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http://www.archive.org/details/historyofmaumeersloc 


HISTORY 


OF  THE 


MAUMEE  RIVER  BASIN 


ALLEN   COUNTY 


INDIANA 


BY 


COL.  ROBERT  S.  ROBERTSON 


ASSISTED  BY   A   CORPS   OF   ABLE   EDITORS   AND   CONTRIBUTORS 


ILLUSTRATE!! 


VOL.  II 


BOWEN   &   SLOCUM 


X 


Itet 


PREFACE 


IN  placing  the  "History  of  Allen  County/'  as  an  integral  part  of 
the  "History  of  the  Maumee  River  Basin,"  before  the  citizens  of 

the  county,  the  publishers  can  conscientiously  claim  that  they 
have  carried  out  in  full  every  promise  made  in  the  prospectus.  The 
historical  articles  from  the  pen  of  Col.  Robert  S.  Robertson,  as  well 
as  the  special  articles  by  other  able  and  well-known  writers,  compose 
a  valuable  collection  and  will  prove  not  only  of  interest  to  the 
present  generation,  but  of  inestimable  value  to  future  historians,  be- 
ing the  result  of  patient  toil  and  deep  research.  Every  biograph- 
ical sketch  in  this  work  has  been  submitted  to  the  party  interested 
for  approval  and  correction,  and  therefore  any  error  of  fact,  if  there 
be  any,  is  solely  due  to  the  person  for  whom  the  sketch  was  pre- 
pared. 

The  publishers  wrould  here  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity 
to  thank  the  citizens  of  Allen  county  for  the  uniform  kindness  with 
which  they  have  regarded  the  undertaking  and  for  their  many 
services  rendered  in  the  gaining  of  necessary  information.  Confi- 
dent that  our  efforts  to  please  will  fully  meet  the  approbation  of  the 
public,  we  are 

Respectfully, 

BOWEN  &  SLOCUM. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I— HISTORY  OF  THE  ORGANIZATION  OP  ALLEN  COUNTY 
—ITS  LEGAL  DEVELOPMENT— ITS  COURTS,  AND  BENCH 
AND  BAR — First  Settlements — Beginning  of  Law  and  Order — 
First  Courts  in  Northwest  Territory — Early  Fees — Indiana  Ter- 
ritory Organized — Admission  of  Indiana  as  a  State — Early  Hap- 
penings— Formation  of  Counties — Early  County  Courts  and  Judges 
—  Probate  Courts  —  Court  of  Common  Pleas  —  Criminal  Circuit 
Court  —  Superior  Court  —  Board  of  Commissioners  —  First  Court 
House — Second  Court  House — Present  Court  House — Internal  Im- 
provements        18 

CHAPTER  II— PIONEER  DAYS  AND  WAYS— Early  Indians  and  Fur 
Traders — The  Old  Fort — A  Forgotten  Hero — Early  Missionary  Ef- 
forts— The  Village — Primitive  Traffic — Social  Events — Old  Portraits 
— Old  Advertisements — Auntie  Vance 60 

CHAPTER  III— ROSTER  OF  COUNTY  OFFICIALS— Circuit  Judges- 
Associate  Judges — Probate  and  Common  Pleas  Judges — Criminal 
Judges — Superior  Judges — Prosecuting  Attorneys,  Circuit  Court — 
Prosecuting  Attorneys,  Common  Pleas  Court — Prosecuting  Attor- 
neys, Criminal  Court — Clerks  of  the  Circuit  Court — Auditors — 
Treasurers  —  Sheriffs  —  Recorders  —  Surveyors  —  Coroners  — 
County  School  Superintendents  —  County  Board  of  Trustees  — 
County  Commissioners  —  Members  of  General  Assembly  —  Repre- 
sentatives— Miscellaneous  Officials 82 

CHAPTER  IV  — MUNICIPAL  MATTERS  —  Original  Plats  —  Municipal 
Incorporation — Early  Officials — Corporation  Seal — Mayors — City 
Treasurers — City  Attorneys — City  Clerks — Street  Commissioners — 
Foremen  of  Street  Repairs — Civil  Engineers — Assessors — Marshals 
—-Aldermen — Board  of  Health — Department  of  Public  Works — De- 
partment of  Public  Safety — Water  Works  Board — Trustees  of  Pub- 
lic Schools — Superintendents  of  Public  Schools — City  Building. ...     93 

CHAPTER  V— BANKING  INSTITUTIONS  OF  FORT  WAYNE  AND 
ALLEN  COUNTY— Branch  of  State  Bank  of  Indiana— Hugh  Mc- 
Culloch — Fort    Wayne    National    Bank — Bond    Brothers — Old    Na- 


CONTENTS. 

tional  Bank — Allen  Hamilton  &  Company — The  Hamilton  Bank — 
Hamilton  National  Bank — First  National  Bank — Merchants'  Na- 
tional Bank — White  National  Bank — German-American  National 
Bank — Nuttman  &  Company — Fort  Wayne  Savings  Bank — Isaac 
Lauferty — The  Cheney  Bank — Commercial  Bank — Straus  Brothers 
&  Company — Bank  of  Wayne — Citizens'  State  Bank  of  Monroeville 
—  Woodburn  Banking  Company  —  Zanesville  State  Bank  —  Fort 
Wayne  Trust  Company — Citizens'  Trust  Company — Tri-State  Loan 
and  Trust  Company — People's  Trust  and  Savings  Company 113 

CHAPTER  VI— BUILDING  AND  LOAN  ASSOCIATIONS— Allen  County 
Building  and  Loan  Association — Fort  Wayne  Building,  Loan-Fund 
and  Saving  Association — German  Building,  Loan  and  Saving  Asso- 
ciation— Teutonic  Building  and  Loan  Association — Tri-State  Build- 
ing and  Loan  Association — Wayne  Building  and  Loan  Association.   146 

CHAPTER  VII— INDUSTRIES  OF  FORT  WAYNE— Early  Industrial  De- 
velopment— Saw-Mills — Flour  Mills — Bass  Foundry  and  Machine 
Company — Western  Gas  Construction  Company — Kerr  Murray  Man- 
ufacturing Company — Electrical  Works — Jenney  Electric  Light 
Company — Fort  Wayne  Electric  Works — Bowser  Oil  Tank  Industry 
— Foundries  and  Machine  Shops — Central  Foundry  Company — Meni- 
fee Foundry  Company — Fort  Wayne  Foundry  and  Machine  Com- 
pany— Indiana  Machine  Works — J.  H.  Bass  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany— Centlivre  Manufacturing  Company — Haberkorn  Engine  Com- 
pany— Indiana  Road  Machine  Company — Wagon  and  Carriage  In- 
dustry— City  Carriage  Works — Olds  Wagon  Works. — Fort  Wayne 
Spoke  and  Bending  Company — Paul  Manufacturing  Company — 
Louis  Ras tetter  &  Son — Fort  Wayne  Windmill  Company — The  Pack- 
ard Company — Peters  Box  and  Lumber  Company — White  Wheel 
Works — Box  Industry — Fort  Wayne  Box  Company — Olds  Wheel 
Works — Cooperage — Noble  Machine  Company — Furniture — Fort 
Wayne  Furniture  Works — D.  N.  Foster — Pape  Furniture  Com- 
pany— Fort  Wayne  Special  Furniture  Company — Brewing  Indus- 
try— Centlivre  Brewing  Company — Berghoff  Brewing  Company — 
Fort  Wayne  Knitting  Mill — Economy  Glove  Company — The  Para- 
gon Company — Union  Manufacturing  Company — Hoosier  Manufac- 
turing Company — Boss  Manufacturing  Company — Shirt  Waist  In- 
idustry — Bread  and  Biscuit  Industry — Perfection  Biscuit  Company 
— Craig  Biscuit  Company — National  Biscuit  Company — Plumbing 
Supplies — Knott,  VanArnum  Company — Washing  Machine  Industry 
— Anthony  Wayne  Manufacturing  Company — Peerless  Manufactur- 
ing Company — Horton  Manufacturing  Company — Superior  Manu- 
facturing Company — The  Packing  Industry — Fred  Eckart  Pack- 
ing Company — Bash  Packing  Company — Carpets  and  Rugs— Sad- 
dlery and  Harness— Patent  Medicines — Moellering  Medicine  Com- 
pany— Rundell  Proprietary  Company — Live  Stock  Proprietary  Rem- 
edy Company — Brick,  Tile,  Etc. — Marble  and  Granite  Works — Arti- 
ficial Stone — Summit  City  Soap  Works — The  Cigar  Industry 148 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VIII — EDUCATION — Early  Schools — First  School  House  in 
Fort  Wayne — The  Ladies'  Seminary — Methodist  College — Presby- 
terian Academy — Westminster  Seminary — State  School  System — 
Growth  of  City  Schools — Erection  of  School  Houses — The  High 
School — Music  and  Reading — Drawing — Physical  Culture — Train- 
ing School  for  Teachers — Primary  Supervisor — The  Kindergartens 
— Fort  Wayne  School  Trustees — School  Accommodations — Parochial 
and  Other  Schools 224 

CHAPTER  IX— AGRICULTURE  AND  AGRICULTURAL  SOCIETIES— 
The  Pioneer  Farmers — Early  Cabin  Homes — First  Crops — Construc- 
tion of  First  Roads — First  Agricultural  Society — Allen  County 
Horticultural  Society — Indiana  State  Fair — Indiana  Horticultural 
Society — Northern  Indiana  Agricultural  and  Horticultural  Associ- 
ation— Farmers'    Institutes 244 

CHAPTER  X— MILITARY  SOCIETIES  AND  MILITARY  COMPANIES 
OF  FORT  WAYNE  AND  ALLEN  COUNTY— Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic — Post  No.  1 — Jesse  Adams  Post,  No.  493 — First  Memorial 
Day — Sion  S.  Bass  Post,  No.  40 — Anthony  Wayne  Post,  No.  271 — 
George  Humphrey  Post,  No.  530 — General  Lawton  Post,  No.  590 — 
Post  No.  3— David  K.  Stopher  Post,  No.  75— Post  No.  4— William 
H.  Link  Post,  No.  301 — Union  Veteran  Legion — Woman's  Relief 
Corps — Ladies  of  the  G.  A.  R. — Sons  of  Veterans — Union  Ex-Pris- 
oners of  War  Association  of  Northeastern  Indiana — United  Span- 
ish War  Veterans — Society  Army  of  the  Philippines — The  Wayne 
Guards — Fort  Wayne  Light  Guard — Fort  Wayne  College  Cadets — 
The  Hibernian  Rifles — Fort  Wayne  Rifles— Fort  Wayne  Veterans — 
Battery  B,  Indiana  National  Guard — Company  L,  Third  Regiment, 
I.  N.  G.  —  Company  G,  Third  Regiment.  I.  N.  G.  —  Company  D, 
Eighty-eighth  Indiana  Volunteer  Association — Sons  of  the  Amer- 
ican Revolution — Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution 251 

CHAPTER  XI  — MEDICAL  HISTORY  OF  ALLEN  COUNTY  —  Distin- 
guished Practitioners — Medical  Periodicals — Allen  County  Medical 
Society — Fort  Wayne  Academy  of  Medicine — St.  Joseph's  Hospital 
— City  Hospital — Hope  Hospital — Fort  Wayne  College  of  Medicine 
— Physicians  as  Military  Surgeons 289 

CHAPTER  XII— POLICE  DEPARTMENT— Organization  of  Department 

— Police  Station — Past  and  Present  Officials 297 

CHAPTER  XIII— FIRE  DEPARTMENT— Early  Volunteer  Companies- 
Fire  Limits  Established — First  Apparatus — Fire  Alarm  Telegraph 
System  Installed — Engine  Houses — Officials  of  the  Department  and 
Personnel  of  the  Companies— Firemen's  Pension  Fund 301 

CHAPTER  XIV— WATER  WORKS— First  Action  by  the  City  Council- 
Construction  of  Works  —  Sources  of  Water  Supply  —  Additional 
Equipment — Officials    309 


CONTENTS.  • 

CHAPTER  XV  —  TELEPHONES  —  The  Lumbard  Exchange  —  Western 
Union  Lines — Bell  Telephone  Company — Home  Telephone  and  Tele- 
graph Company — National  Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company ....  316 

CHAPTER  XVI— STATE  SCHOOL  FOR  FEEBLE-MINDED  YOUTH— 
Legislative  Provision — Made  an  Independent  Institution — Construc- 
tion of  Buildings — Superintendents — Aim  of  the  School — Official 
Staff    320 

CHAPTER  XVII— LIBRARIES  OF  ALLEN  COUNTY— Legislative  Pro- 
visions— Allen  County  Public  Library — Workingmen's  Institute  and 
Library — Lectures — Township  Libraries — Monroe  Township  School 
Library — Monroeville  Public  School  Library — Emerine  J.  Hamil- 
ton Library — Fort  Wayne  Free  Public  Library — Donation  by  An- 
drew Carnegie  for  Library  Building — Books  in  Library  and  Their 
Comparative  Circulation  —  Library  Staff  —  Concordia  College  Li- 
braries        327 

CHAPTER  XVIII— PRIVATE  LIBRARIES  OF  FORT  WAYNE— F.  P. 
Randall  Library,  and  those  of  Rev.  S.  and  Mrs.  Wagenhals,  Miss 
Margaret  Hamilton,  Montgomery  Hamilton,  Andrew  H.  Hamilton, 
F.  J.  Hayden,  Hugh  T.  Hanna,  Mrs.  Helen  F.  Fleming,  Bishop 
Alerding,  R.  S.  Taylor,  R.  S.  Robertson,  John  H.  Jacobs,  and  the 
Railroad  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 348 

CHAPTER  XIX— WOMEN'S  CLUBS  OF  FORT  WAYNE  AND  ALLEN 
COUNTY — Necessity  for  Women's  Clubs— Indiana's  First  Club — 
Allen  County  Woman's  Rights  Association — The  Clut> — Qui  Vive 
Club— Woman's  Reading  Club— The  Other  Club — T.  M.  C.  C.  Club 
— The  Seven  Club — The  Saturday  Club — Woman's  Club  League — 
Morning  Musical  Society — Art  School  Association — The  Carroll 
Clut> — Current  Literature  Club — Young  Women's  Christian  Associ- 
ation —  The  Needlework  Guild  —  Duodecimo  Club,  New  Haven  — 
Ladies'  Aid  Society,  Dunfee  —  Minerva  Club,  Hoagland  —  Harlan 
Literary  Club,  Harlan — Home-makers'   Association 394 

CHAPTER  XX— ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CHURCHES— St.  Augustine— Ca- 
thedral of  the  Immaculate  Conception — First  Missionary  Efforts — 
Mother  of  God  Church— St.  Peter's  Church — St.  Paul's  Church — 
St.  Patrick's  Church — Church  of  the  Precious  Blood — St.  Joseph's 
Chapel — St.  Vincent's  Orphan  Asylum — St.  Leo  Church,  Leo — 
St.  Louis  Church,  Jefferson  Township — Church  of  St.  John  the 
Baptist,  New  Haven — St.  Joseph's  Church,  Hesse  Cassell — St.  Vin- 
cent's Church,  Academy — St.  Patrick's  Church,  Areola — Church  of 
St.  Rose  of  Lima,  Monroeville — St.  Aloysius  Church,  Pleasant 
Township    413 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXI  —  METHODIST  CHURCHES  —  Wonderful  Growth  of 
Methodism,  and  its  Potential  Influence — Early  Ministrations  in 
Allen  County — Class  Organized  in  1830 — Early  Preachers — First 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church — Wayne  Street  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church — Simpson  Methodist  Episcopal  Church — St.  Paul's  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church — Bethany  Methodist  Episcopal  Church — 
Free  Methodist  Church — African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 437 

CHAPTER  XXII— PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCHES— The  First  Protestant 
Minister  in  Fort  Wayne  a  Presbyterian — "Father  Ross" — First 
Presbyterian  Church  —  Semi-Centennial  —  Second  (Westminster 
Presbyterian  Church — Third  Presbyterian  Church — Bethany  Pres- 
byterian Church. 448 

CHAPTER  XXIII— BAPTIST  CHURCHES— First  Baptist  Church— Rev. 

Isaac  McCoy — Beaver  Chapel — German  Baptist  (Dunker)   Church.   460 

CHAPTER  XXIV  —  LUTHERAN  CHURCHES  —  Trinity  Evangelical 
Lutheran  Church  (English) — German  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Churches — St.  Paul's  Church — St.  John's  Church — Emanuel  Evan- 
gelical Lutheran  Church — Zion's  Evangelical  Lutheran  Congrega- 
tional Church — Trinity  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  (German)  — 
Emmaus  Evangelical  Church  —  Christ's  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church — Lutheran  Church  of  the  Redeemer — Evangelical  Concordia 
Congregation  —  Grace  Evangelical  Church  —  Martin's  Evangelical 
Lutheran  Church,  Adams  Station — St.  Peter's  Church,  St.  Joseph 
Township  —  German  Evangelical  Church,  New  Haven  —  German 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Church,  Gar  Creek — St.  John's  Evangelical 
Lutheran  Church,  Marion  Township  —  St.  John's  Evangelical 
Lutheran   Church,   Hoagland 467 

CHAPTER  XXV  — REFORMED  CHURCHES  —  St.  John's  German  Re- 
formed Church — Second  German  Reformed  Salem  Church — Grace 
Reformed    Church 480 

CHAPTER    XXVI— PROTESTANT    EPISCOPAL    CHURCHES— Trinity 

Church — St.   Andrew's  Mission 484 

CHAPTER   XXVII— UNI VERSALIST   CHURCH 489 

CHAPTER  XXVIII— CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCHES— Plymouth  Con- 
gregational Church — South  Congregational  Church 492 

CHAPTER  XXIX  —  CHRISTIAN   CHURCHES  —  West   Jefferson  Street 

Church — West  Creighton  Church 495 


- 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   XXX  — UNITED   BRETHREN    CHURCHES  —  First   United 

Brethren  Church — Second  United  Brethren  Church 498 

CHAPTER    XXXI— EVANGELICAL    ASSOCIATION 500 

CHAPTER  XXXII— FIRST  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST  (SCIENTISTS) 503 

CHAPTER  XXXIII— HEBREW— Achd'uth  Veshalom  Synagogue,  of  B'Nai 

Israel    506 

CHAPTER  XXXIV— YOUNG  MEN'S  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATION 509 

CHAPTER  XXXV— YOUNG  WOMEN'S  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATION...    513 

CHAPTER  XXXVI— FREEMASONRY  IN  FORT  WAYNE  AND  ALLEN 
COUNTY — Wayne  Lodge,  No.  25 — Early  Masonic  Events — Anti-Ma- 
sonic Movement — Troublous  Times — Summit  City  Lodge,  No.  170 
—  Sol  D.  Bayless  Lodge,  No.  359  —  Home  Lodge,  No.  342  —  Leo 
Lodge,  No.  224,  Leo — Olive  Branch  Lodge,  No.  248,  Poe — Monroe- 
ville  Lodge,  No.  293 — Harlan  Lodge,  No.  296,  Harlan — Newman 
Lodge,  No.  376,  New  Haven — Henry  King  Lodge,  No.  382,  Hunter- 
town — Fort  Wayne  Chapter,  No.  19,  R.  A.  M. — Fort  Wayne  Coun- 
cil, No.  4,  R.  &  S.  M  —  Fort  Wayne  Commandery,  No.  4,  K.  T  — 
Lodge  of  Perfection,  A.  A.  S.  R. — Darius  Council,  Princes  of  Jeru- 
salem, A.  A.  S.  R. — Order  of  the  Eastern  Star — Summit  City  Chap- 
ter, No.  45,  O.  E.  S—  Shiloh  Chapter,  No.  141,  O.  E.  S.— Clandestine 
Masonry — The  Masonic   Temple 516 

CHAPTER  XXXVII— INDEPENDENT  ORDER  OF  ODD  FELLOWS— 
Fort  Wayne  Lodge,  No.  14 — Fort  Wayne  Encampment,  No.  152 — 
Fort  Wayne  Canton,  Patriarchs  Militant — Harmony  Lodge,  No.  19 
— Summit  Encampment,  No.  16 — Deborah  Lodge,  No.  110,  Daugh- 
ters of  Rebekah  —  Degree  of  Honor  Lodge,  No.  23  —  Concordia 
Lodge,  No.  228 — Concordia  Lodge,  No.  41,  Daughters  of  Rebekah..   536 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII  —  KNIGHTS  OF  PYTHIAS  —  Phoenix  Lodge,  No. 

101 — Rathbone  Sisters — Fort  Wayne  Lodge,  No.  116 544 

CHAPTER  XXXIX— OTHER  FRATERNAL  AND  BENEVOLENT  OR- 
DERS— Fort  Wayne  Lodge,  No.  155,  Benevolent  and  Protective 
Order  of  Elks  —  Fraternal  Order  of  Eagles  —  Independent  Order 
B'nai  B'rith — Independent  Order  of  Foresters — Improved  Order  of 
Red  Men — Degree  of  Pocahontas — Knights  of  the  Maccabees — 
Ladies  of  the  Maccabees  —  Brotherhood  of  American  Yeomen  — 
Royal  Arcanum — Order  of  Ben  Hur — Knights  and  Ladies  of  Honor 
— Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen — Hebrew  Benevolent  Society 
— Loyal   League — Miscellaneous   Societies 549 


CHAPTER  I 


HISTORY  OF  THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  ALLEN  COUN- 
TY, INDIANA— ITS  LEGAL  DEVELOPMENT- 
ITS  COURTS,  AND  BENCH  AND  BAR. 


BY   R.    S.    ROBERTSON. 


From  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century  we  have  only  to 
glance  backward  over  the  highway  of  the  century  past  to  measure 
the  birth  and  growth  of  the  county  which  is  our  pride  and  boast. 
To  be  sure,  Fort  Wayne  was  built  and  garrisoned  before  the  dawn 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  but  settlers  came  slowly,  and  the  first 
quarter  post  of  that  century  was  nearly  reached  before  the  county 
of  Allen  was  carved  from  the  vast  wilderness  which  had  once  been 
honored  by  the  name  of  the  conqueror,  Wayne. 

One  hundred  years !  How  few  they  seem !  How  small  a  period 
in  the  measureless  ages,  and  yet,  in  that  short  span,  how  great  the 
development  of  America,  and  of  the  world !  One  hundred  years  ago 
the  same  sun  shone,  the  same  moon  glimmered  over  the  forests,  and 
over  the  rivers  St.  Joseph  and  St.  Mary's,  which  then  rippled  and 
flowed  between  verdurous  banks,  until  here  their  waters  were  wed- 
ded, and  together  swept  on  through  unbroken  forests  to  where  they 
were  absorbed  in  Erie's  waves. 

But  naught  else  was  the  same.  No  beautiful  city,  with  its  thou- 
sands of  happy  homes,  its  busy  marts  and  workshops,  pointed  its 

2 


18  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

spires  to  the  sky.  No  stately  "palace  of  justice"  reared  on  high  its 
magnificent  and  imposing  dome  to  point  out  and  emphasize  the 
power  and  majesty  of  government  and  law.  Courts  there  were,  but 
not  like  ours.  The  arching  sky  formed  the  dome,  a  cleared  spot 
among  the  trees  the  court  room,  where  the  simpler  trials  of  the  time 
were  held.  Few  were  the  questions  decided,  the  first  being,  "Shall 
he  live  or  die?"  The  second  and  final  one,  the  duration  and  kind  of 
torture  the  victim  should  endure  before  the  boon  of  death  should  be 
given.  It  was  a  democratic  court,  for  the  whole  people  participated 
in  the  three-fold  capacity  of  judge,  jury  and  executioner.  No  law- 
yers were  needed. 

Less  than  a  century  ago,  within  rifle  shot  of  the  Allen  county 
court  house,  at  the  meeting  of  the  rivers,  the  last  man  convicted 
here  by  such  a  court  was  bound  to  a  stake  by  a  long  rawhide  thong. 
About  him  twigs  and  fagots  were  piled  and  fired,  near  enough  to 
shrivel  the  skin  and  slowly  roast  the  flesh,  but  not  near  enough  to 
hasten  the  death  he  longed  and  prayed  for.  And  there,  blinded  by 
fire  and  smoke,  tortured  by  thrusts  of  sharpened  poles,  with  hot 
ashes  and  live  coals  showered  over  his  head  and  shoulders  by  his 
cruel  tormentors,  he  trod  the  circle  of  his  tether,  over  a  pathway  of 
burning  coals,  goaded  on  by  his  pitiless  executioners.  If  he  fell,  he 
was  lifted  up  and  driven  again  around  and  around  that  fiery  footpath 
till  the  welcome,  but  tardy,  angel  of  death  at  last  claimed  him. 
Thank  heaven,  that  dread  court,  with  its  attendant  horrors,  has  for- 
ever passed  away.  The  century  just  gone  brought  that  wilderness 
under  the  reign  of  law  and  into  the  full  light  of  the  world's  best 
civilization  and  jurisprudence. 

We  who  have  always  enjoyed  a  reign  of  law,  seldom  think  of 
the  beginnings  from  which  our  judicial  system  has  grown.  Under 
the  regular  administration  of  justice  in  our  generation,  we  can 
hardly  realize  the  condition  of  the  people  who  came  here  when  the 
territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio  was  claimed  as  a  possession  of 
France;  as  part  of  the  domain  of  Spain;  as  part  of  the  British  do- 
minion, and  as  a  county  of  Virginia.  And  yet,  the  laws  of  all  these 
nations  have  been  at  varying  periods  enforced,  or  attempted  to  be 
enforced,  throughout  all  that  region  now  comprising  the  great 
states  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan,  Wisconsin  and  the  four- 
teen counties  of  Minnesota  lying  east  of  the  Mississippi  river.     In 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  19 

our  own  state  the  administration  of  Spanish  law,  under  the 
claim  that  it  belonged  to  Louisiana,  was  of  feeble  character,  and  can 
hardly  lay  claim  to  historic  certainty.  No  so  with  the  administra- 
tion of  the  laws  of  France,  for  the  settlement  of  St.  Vincent's,  now 
Vincennes,  was  controlled  by  governors  and  a  judiciary  of  that  na- 
tion, and  when  our  own  form  of  government  succeeded  to  it,  many 
of  the  French  forms  and  customs  were  recognized  as  having  the 
form  of  law. 

But  the  real  beginnings  of  judicial  administration  through  county 
organizations  and  established  courts  came  through  Virginia.  Vir- 
ginia at  its  first  settlement  was  almost  the  antipodal  of  New  Eng- 
land. It  was  a  bit  of  mosaic  out  of  old  England,  with  the  aristocratic 
landholder  lording  it  over  the  black  slave  and  the  white  serf.  It  had 
the  laws  of  England,  only  modified  by  the  "orders  in  council,"  adapt- 
ed for  the  filling  of  the  treasure  boxes  of  the  councilors.  It  had  the 
law  of  primogeniture  and  entail,  by  which  the  land  was  to  be  kept 
in  the  family  by  going  to  the  eldest  son,  virtually  disinheriting  the 
younger  sons  and  the  daughters.  Society  was  composed  of  all 
classes,  grading  from  the  manor  to  the  slums,  and  they  brought  with 
them  the  customs  and  the  habits  of  the  same  classes  in  England. 
Thus  the  grades  were  established — the  landowner,  the  slave,  the 
"poor  white."  Lofty  character,  a  culture  wonderful  for  the  age, 
existed  side  by  side  with  the  most  servile  degradation.  They  had  a 
state  church,  and  between  agriculture,  politics  and  the  church,  men 
were  trained  to  thought,  until  in  the  new  atmosphere  and  the  new 
surroundings  they  threw  off  the  trammels  of  the  church  and  the 
unjust  laws  of  primogeniture,  and  from  that  time  the  growth  of  the 
state  was  marvelous.  Its  position  among  the  other  states  was  al- 
most anomalous.  It  led  in  great  statesmen,  in  devoted  patriots,  who 
gave  us  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  Bill  of  Rights  and  aided 
in  giving  us  the  Constitution  as  it  now  is.  It  gave  to  us  of  the 
great  Northwest  its  assent  to  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  which  devoted 
a  vast  territory  to  freedom.  We  need  not  be  ashamed  to  acknowl- 
edge Virginia's  claim  to  our  parentage. 

The  first  charter  of  the  Virginia  colony  was  granted  April  10, 
1606,  and  in  November  of  the  same  year  King  James  issued  articles 
for  the  government  of  the  colony,  and  named  Sir  William  Wade, 
knight,  and  lieutenant  of  the  Tower  of  London,  with  twelve  asso- 


20  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

dates,  as  the  King's  council  of  Virginia,  who  should  "give  direc- 
tions to  the  councils  of  the  several  colonies,  for  the  good  ordering 
and  disposing  of  all  causes  happening  within  the  same,  as  near  to 
the  common  laws  of  England,  and  the  equity  thereof,  as  may  be." 

The  local  council  of  the  colony  was  vested  with  judicial  powers. 
In  civil  cases  the  president  and  council  acted  as  judges,  and  heard 
and  determined  the  cause,  but  in  criminal  cases  the  council  sat  as 
presiding  judges  and  called  a  jury  of  twelve  "honest,  indifferent 
persons,  sworn  upon  the  evangelists,"  who  were  to  render  a  verdict 
under  instruction  of  the  council.  No  written  pleadings  were  re- 
quired, but  the  judgment  had  to  be  recorded  and  signed. 

On  the  26th  of  April,  1607,  Capt.  Newport  landed  the  first  colo- 
nists at  Jamestown.  By  a  later  charter  other  forms  of  local  courts 
were  established,  limited  in  term  to  one  month  in  the  year,  and  com- 
plaints of  consequence  were  required  to1  be  recorded. 

The  first  general  assembly  whose  record  has  been  preserved  sat 
at  Jamestown  March  5,  1623-4.  It  made  provision  for  regularly 
organized  courts,  to  sit  monthly,  the  judges  to  be  appointed  monthly 
and  to  have  jurisdiction  to  the  value  of  one  hundred  pounds  of  to- 
bacco. In  criminal  cases  and  petty  offenses  an  appeal  lay  to  the 
council,  but  as  the  unsuccessful  appellant  was  mulct  in  double  dam- 
ages, this  kind  of  appeal  was  doubtless  little  sought  for. 

But  the  first  known  courts  in  the  Northwest  Territory  were  held 
under  the  French  rule,  about  171 7,  at  Fort  Chartres,  near  Kaskas- 
kia,  and  it  was  ordained  by  a  charter  of  Louis  XIV,  granted  to  Sir 
Anthony  Crozat,  that  "the  Edicts,  Ordinances  and  Customs,  and 
the  usages  of  the  Mayoralty  and  Shrievalty  of  Paris,  shall  be  ob- 
served for  laws  and  Customs  in  said  Country."  John  Law's  cele- 
brated "Western  Company"  succeeded  to  governmental  powers  in 
the  Mississippi  valley,  and  in  1723  the  country  was  divided  into  nine 
districts.  The  seventh  was  "The  District  of  Illinois  and  Wabash," 
under  a  commandant  and  judge,  who  administered  military  and  civil 
affairs. 

In  1763,  by  the  Treaty  of  Paris,  France  relinquished  her  claim 
to  the  territory  and  Great  Britain  assumed  its  control.  In  1765  Cap- 
tain Sterling  was  sent  to  Fort  Chartres  as  commandant  of  the  Illi- 
nois country,  with  authority  to  organize  a  government  under  Brit- 
ish laws  and  usages.    Dying  soon  after,  Major  Frazer  was  ordered 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  21 

there  as  his  successor,  but  in  1766  Colonel  Reed  succeeded  Frazer, 
and  was  so  despotic  and  disliked  that  he  was  superseded  by  Colonel 
John  Wilkins  in  September,  1763.  He,  on  the  21st  of  November 
of  that  year,  issued  a  proclamation,  establishing  a  monthly  court, 
appointed  seven  judges  with  jurisdiction  to  ' 'settle  all  disputes  and 
controversies,  and  all  claims  to  property,  real  and  personal,"  but 
without  the  right  to  trial  by  jury. 

This  control  lasted  until  the  wonderful  campaign  of  that  great  but 
neglected  hero,  Gen.  George  Rogers  Clark  (whose  mother  was  a  de- 
scendant of  John  Rogers,  the  Smithfield  martyr),  brought  the  Brit- 
ish occupation  to  an  end  in  1778,  and  Virginia,  by  right  of  his  con- 
quest, and  by  the  terms  of  her  charter,  which  denned  her  eastern 
and  western  boundaries  as  "from  sea  to  sea,"  assumed  sovereignty 
over  it,  and  by  act  of  October,  1778,  erected  all  this  vast  Northwest 
Territory  into  the  "County  of  Illinois."  On  the  12th  of  December 
of  that  year  Governor  Patrick  Henry  appointed  John  Todd  lieuten- 
ant commandant.  It  was  decreed  that  the  civil  officers  were  to  be 
elected  by  the  people,  and  "to  exercise  their  several  jurisdictions,  and 
conduct  themselves  agreeable  to  the  laws  which  the  present  settlers 
are  now  accustomed  to." 

This  government  continued  in  force  until,  in  1784,  Virginia 
ceded  her  claims  and  jurisdictions  to  the  United  States,  and  the 
famous  Ordinance  of  1787  was  substituted  for  it. 

By  this  ordinance  a  governor  and  three  judges  were  appointed 
under  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  who  composed  the  general 
council,  enacted  laws  and  sat  as  a  general  court,  until  the  territory 
passed  to  the  second  grade,  i.  e.,  had  five  thousand  inhabitants,  when 
the  people  were  authorized  to  elect  a  council  and  house  of  repre- 
sentatives, to  be  known  as  the  general  assembly. 

When  the  governor  and  judges  sat  as  a  legislative  council  they 
were  authorized  only  to  adopt  laws  of  the  original  states  as  laws 
to  govern  the  territory,  and  before  they  could  go  into  effect  they 
must  have  the  sanction  of  congress,  but  it  is  a  peculiar  fact  that 
nearly  every  law  put  in  force  by  the  council  was  refused  sanction  by 
congress,  and  that  they  were  not  "adopted,"  but  "adapted,"  from 
the  laws  of  the  states  to  suit  the  ideas  of  the  governor  and  judges 
as  to  what  the  laws  should  be,  and  not  as  they  were.  Hence  the 
questions  later  raised  as  to  their  validity. 


22  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

When  they  sat  as  a  court  it  was  to  hear  appeals  from  the  lower 
courts.  It  could  affirm  or  reverse  such  decisions  at  their  pleasure, 
but  from  their  decision  there  was  no  appeal,  a  strange  oversight  on 
the  part  of  congress,  which  thus  established  a  tribunal  to  make  the 
laws,  and  then  sit  in  final  judgment  to  construe  those  laws.  It  is 
not  at  all  remarkable  that  the  legality  of  these  laws  was  not  ques- 
tioned, for  so  long  as  the  "general  court"  existed,  if  the  question 
were  raised  by  some  presumptuous  lawyer,  the  court  which  enacted 
the  law  could,  and  probably  did,  pronounce  it  a  good  law,  and  at 
the  same  time  could,  and  probably  did,  make  the  atmosphere  of  the 
court  unhealthy  for  the  meddling  lawyer,  who  had  the  temerity  to 
trouble  the  court  with  such  foolish  arguments. 

For  their  services  these  three  judges,  who  were  appointed  by  the 
President,  received  the  munificent  salary  of  five  hundred  dollars 
each. 

Gen.  Arthur  St.  Clair  was  the  first  governor,  and  Winthrop  Sar- 
geant  secretary.  The  first  judges  were  Samuel  Holden  Parsons, 
James  Mitchell  Varnum  and  John  Armstrong.  The  latter  declined, 
and  John  Cleves  Symmes  was  appointed. 

July  9,  1788,  the  governor  and  judges  arrived  at  Marietta  and 
established  the  civil  government  provided  by  the  ordinance,  and  on 
the  26th  a  court  of  common  pleas  was  organized,  with  three  judges, 
a  clerk  and  sheriff.  The  first  term  began  September  2d  of  that  year 
and,  in  presence  of  the  governor  and  council,  Justices  Rufus  Putnam 
and  Benjamin  Tupper  took  the  bench,  divine  blessing  was  invoked, 
and  the  high  sheriff,  Ebenezer  Sproat,  opened  court  by  proclaiming 
at  the  open  door,  "Oyez,  Oyez,  a  court  is  opened  for  the  administra- 
tion of  even-handed  justice  to  the  poor  and  rich,  to  the  guilty  and 
the  innocent,  without  respect  of  persons ;  none  to  be  punished  with- 
out trial  by  his  peers,  and  in  pursuance  of  the  law  and  evidence  in 
the  case."  Thus,  in  the  county  of  Washington,  in  Marietta  (now 
in  the  state  of  Ohio)  as  the  county  seat,  was  inaugurated  the  judi- 
ciary system  under  which  our  fathers  and  we  have  lived  for  more 
than  a  century — the  beginnings  of  a  judicial  system  that  has  grown 
to  proportions  then  not  thought  of — like  the  century  oak  from  the 
acorn  sprig.  All  these  five  great  states  and  more  was  then  the 
county  of  Washington,  Northwest  Territory. 

In  January,  1790,  the  governor  and  territorial  judges,  sitting  as 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  23 

the  legislative  council,  formed  the  county  of  Hamilton,  with  Cin- 
cinnati as  the  county  seat.  Its  boundaries  were  from  the  Hockhock- 
ing  to  the  Great  Miami. 

From  Cincinnati  they  went  to  Vincennes  and  formed  the  county 
of  Knox,  with  Vincennes  as  the  county  seat.  Its  boundaries  were 
from  the  Great  Miami  to  the  Wabash.  A  strict  constructionist 
would  contend  that  Fort  Wayne  was  not  within  its  jurisdiction,  for 
it  was  not  geographically  on  the  hither  side  of  the  Wabash,  but  the 
criminal  at  Fort  Wayne  found  himself  in  the  meshes  of  the  court  at 
Vincennes,  and  we  find  no  record  of  the  jurisdictional  question  be- 
ing raised.  Thence  they  went  to  Cahokia,  where  they  formed  the 
county  of  St.  Clair,  with  its  boundaries  from  the  Wabash  to  the 
Mississippi.  Possibly  those  charged  with  offenses  at  Fort  Wayne 
preferred  being  tried  at  Vincennes  rather  than  at  East  St.  Louis, 
and  so  failed  to  raise  the  jurisdictional  point  suggested. 

The  Ordinance  of  1787  provided  that  the  legislative  council 
might  adopt  such  laws  of  the  "original  states"  as  they  might  deem 
proper  for  the  government  of  the  territory. 

The  laws  adopted  came  from  Massachusetts,  New  York,  Penn- 
sylvania and  Virginia.  In  1798  four  were  adopted  from  the  Ken- 
tucky code,  but  they  were  declared  invalid  because  Kentucky  was 
not  an  "original  state." 

In  1788  laws  were  enacted  establishing  courts  of  general  quarter 
sessions  of  the  peace,  and  courts  of  common  pleas,  and  the  single 
judges  were  empowered  to  hear  and  determine  finally  upon  causes 
arising  out  of  small  debts  and  contracts.  A  probate  or  orphans' 
court  was  established  the  same  year. 

In  1790  these  courts  were  required  to  divide  the  counties  into 
townships,  and  to  alter  the  boundaries  thereof  whenever  necessary. 

The  terms  of  the  general  court  were  fixed  as  follows :  In  the 
county  of  Knox  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  May;  in  the  county  of  St. 
Clair  on  the  second  Tuesday  of  June;  in  the  county  of  Hamilton  on 
the  first  Tuesday  of  October;  in  the  county  of  Washington  on  the 
second  Tuesday  of  November.  The  common  pleas  courts  were  to 
meet  every  four  months. 

In  1 79 1  the  court  of  general  quarter  sessions  was  to  meet  in  each 
county  every  four  months,  as  well  as  the  common  pleas,  and  by  act 
of  August  1,  1792,  a  court  house,  county  jail,  pillory,  whipping  post 


24  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

and  stocks  were  ordered  built  in  every  county.  At  the  same  ses- 
sion an  act  was  passed  requiring  attorneys  to  pass  examination  be- 
fore a  judge,  and  to  take  an  oath  as  follows :  "I  swear  that  I  will 
do  no  falsehood,  nor  consent  to  the  doing  of  any  in  the  courts  of 
justice,  and  if  I  know  of  an  intention  to  commit  any,  I  will  give 
knowledge  thereof  to  the  justices  of  the  said  courts  or  some  of  them, 
that  it  may  be  prevented.  I  will  not  willingly  promote  or  sue  any 
false,  groundless  or  unlawful  suit,  not  give  aid  or  consent  to  the 
same,  and  I  will  conduct  myself  in  the  office  of  attorney  within  the 
said  courts  according  to  the  best  of  my  knowledge  and  discretion, 
and  with  good  fidelity  as  well  to  the  courts  as  my  clients,  so  help 
me  God." 

This  will  be  easily  recognized  as  the  foundation  stone  upon  which 
has  been  built  the  well-known  high  character  for  truth  and  veracity 
which  down  to  the  present  has  been  attributed,  and  justly  so,  to  the 
members  of  the  legal  profession  of  the  Northwest.  It  was  further 
enacted  that  neither  party  litigant  could  employ  more  than  two  at- 
torneys, and  if  but  two  were  present  at  any  term  of  court,  neither 
party  could  employ  more  than  one  of  them. 

It  is  of  interest  to  know  that  by  the  early  fee  bills  lawyers  were 
not  expected  to  grow  rich  by  the  practice  of  their  profession,  for  in 
1795  the  fees  of  "counsellors  and  attornies"  were  fixed  at  three  dol- 
lars and  fifty  cents  for  the  maximum  retainer,  one  dollar  and  twen- 
ty-five cents  for  arguing  motions,  and  a  trial  fee  of  one  dollar  and 
a  half.    A  few  cents  were  allowed  for  each  paper  drawn. 

Later,  when  Indiana  territory  was  formed,  attorneys*  fees  were 
fixed  at  two  and  one-half  dollars  in  civil  cases,  unless  title  to  land 
was  involved,  when  five  dollars  was  allowed.  For  advice  when  no 
suit  was  pending  one  dollar  and  twenty-seven  cents  was  allowed. 
Why  "twenty-seven"  is  not  apparent. 

By  an  act  of  June  6,  1795,  the  times  and  places  of  holding  the 
general  quarter  sessions  were  more  particularly  fixed,  in  Knox 
county,  on  the  first  Tuesdays  of  February,  May,  August  and  No- 
vember, and  a  common  pleas  and  an  orphans'  court  was  established 
in  each  county. 

At  that  session  of  the  legislative  council  composed  of  Arthur  St. 
Clair,  governor,  John  Cleves  Symmes  and  George  Turner,  judges, 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  25 

a  number  of  laws  were  made  pertaining  to  the  judiciary  and  proceed- 
ings of  courts. 

It  provided  that  lands  might  be  subjected  to  the  payment  of 
debts,  except  "That  the  messuage,  lands  or  tenements  upon  which 
the  defendant  is  chiefly  seated,  shall  not  be  exposed  for  sale  before 
the  expiration  of  one  whole  year  after  judgment  is  given,  to  the  in- 
tent that  the  defendant,  or  any  other  for  him,  may  redeem  the 
same." 

It  provided  for  writs  of  garnishment  to  reach  goods  or  property 
of  the  debtor  held  by  others,  and  to  reach  the  goods  of  absconding 
debtors,  and  for  immediate  process  in  case  of  small  debts.  The 
body  of  the  debtor  was  not  to  be  taken  where  he  could  produce  ef- 
fects sufficient  to  satisfy  the  sum  contained  in  the  execution,  other- 
wise the  "body"  was  to  be  taken  to  the  jail,  there  to  be  safely  kept 
by  the  sheriff  until  the  judgment  and  costs  were  fully  paid.  If  the 
judgment  defendant  escaped,  the  sheriff  had  the  judgment  and  costs 
to  pay. 

It  also  provided  for  the  punishment  of  persons  stealing  "under 
the  value  of  five  shillings"  (now  equal  to  one  hundred  and  fifty 
cents)  by  being  "immediately  and  publicly  whipped,  upon  his  or  her 
bare  back,  not  exceeding  fifteen  lashes,  or  be  fined  in  any  sum,  at 
the  discretion  of  the  said  justices,  not  exceeding  three  dollars ;  and, 
if  able,  to  make  restitution  besides  to  the  party  wronged,  paying 
also  the  charges  of  prosecution  and  whipping;  or  otherwise,  shall 
be  sent  to  the  workhouse,  to  be  kept  at  hard  labor." 

It  also  prescribed  the  oaths  for  witnesses — "those  of  the  people 
commonly  called  Quakers,  by  taking  the  solemn  affirmation;  and 
those  of  the  persuasions  who  swear  by  the  uplifted  hand,  or  hands, 
by  taking  an  oath  in  the  following  words :  T,  A.  B.,  do  swear  by 
Almighty  God,  the  searcher  of  all  hearts  (and  so  forth)  *  *  * 
And  that  as  I  shall  answer  to  God  at  the  great  day/  "  All  of  these 
laws  were  "adopted  from  the  Pennsylvania  code,"  and  some  of  them 
will  be  recognized  as  familiar  friends  by  the  lawyers  of  today,  but 
not  all  of  them. 

It  is  of  interest  to  record  that  the  law  establishing  courts  of 
judicature  in  1795,  one  hundred  and  ten  years  ago,  were  adopted 
from  the  Pennsylvania  code,  and  it  may  be  of  greater  interest  to 


26  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

follow  the  terms  of  the  laws  which  placed  the  foundation  stones  of 
the  judiciary  for  the  ages  to  follow. 

The  law  is  entitled  "Territory  of  the  United  States  Northwest 
of  the  Ohio.  A  law  establishing  Courts  of  Judicature,  adopted  from 
the  Pennsylvania  code,  and  published  at  Cincinnati,  the 
sixth  day  of  June,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-five, 
by  Arthur  St.  Clair,  governeur,  and  John  Cleves  Symmes 
and  George  Turner,  judges,  in  and  over  said  territory." 

"Section  i.  There  shall  be  a  court,  stiled  the  General  Quarter 
Sessions  of  the  peace,  holden  and  kept  four  times  in  every  year,  in 
every  county,  viz:  In  the  county  of  Washington,  at  the  town  of 
Marietta,  on  the  third  Tuesdays  of  March  and  June,  and  the  first 
Tuesdays  of  September  and  December,  yearly  and  every  year ;  in  the 
county  of  Hamilton,  at  the  town  of  Cincinnati,  on  the  first  Tuesdays 
of  February,  May,  August  and  November,  yearly  every  year;  in  the 
county  of  St.  Clair,  to  be  holden  as  followeth  (to-wit)  in  the  District 
of  Kaskaskia,  on  the  first  Tuesdays  of  January,  March,  June  and 
August;  in  the  district  of  Kahokia,  on  the  first  Tuesdays  of  Febru- 
ary, April,  July,  and  October;  and  in  the  District  of  Prairie-du- 
Roches,  on  the  first  Tuesdays  of  May,  August,  November,  and  Feb- 
ruary, yearly  and  every  year;  and  in  the  county  of  Knox,  on  the 
first  Tuesdays  of  February,  May,  August,  and  November,  yearly 
and  every  year." 

"A  competent  number  of  justices  in  every  county,  nominated  and 
authorized  by  the  governor"  were  authorized  to  hold  these  courts  if 
three  of  them  were  present.  The  expenses  of  the  judges,  clerks  and 
attorney  general,  with  their  servants  in  travelling  the  circuits,  where 
they  should  not  hold  any  courts,  were  to  be  paid  by  the  territory,  but 
where  they  held  court,  "by  the  treasurer  of  the  county,  out  of  the 
county  stock."  The  ferrymen  must  pass  them  "without  fee  or  re- 
ward." 

By  the  same  act  a  court  of  common  pleas  was  established  to  be 
holden  four  times  a  year,  in  each  county  "at  the  place  where  the 
general  quarter  sessions  of  the  court  shall  be  respectively  kept,"  and 
a  "competent  number"  of  justices  were  to  be  commissioned  by  the 
governor  of  the  territory  to  hold  such  courts.  They  were  "to  hear 
and  determine  all  and  all  manner  of  pleas,  actions,  suits  and  causes, 
civil,  personal,  real  and  mixed,  according  to  law." 

\ 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  27 

"The  orphans  court"  for  each  county  was  to  be  held  by  the 
justices  of  the  quarter  sessions  of  the  peace,  who  were  empowered 
to  summon  before  them  "all  guardians,  trustees,  tutors,  executors, 
administrators  accountable  for  any  property  belonging  to  orphans 
or  persons  under  age,  to  probate  wills,  and  grant  letters  of  adminis- 
tration." The  terms  of  the  statute  were  broad  enough  to  cover  all 
the  powers  and  duties  of  probate  courts  generally,  and  these  laws 
were  also  taken  from  the  Pennsylvania  code,  and  it  is  remarkable 
that  few  changes  have  been  made  in  the  administration  of  probate 
affairs  in  the  one  hundred  and  ten  years  which  have  passed  since 
the  laws  were  adopted.  The  probate  lawyer  of  1795,  could  he  return 
in  1905,  would  have  little  to  learn  or  unlearn  to  fit  himself  for  a  pro- 
bate court  practice  in  the  state  of  Indiana. 

The  general  and  circuit  courts  had  sole  jurisdiction  in  cases  for 
divorce,  and  absolute  divorces  and  the  causes  for  absolute  divorce 
were  fewer  than  now.  If  either  party  had  a  husband  or  wife  living 
at  time  of  solemnizing  the  second  marriage,  or  was  impotent,  or 
guilty  of  adultery,  the  absolute  divorce  was  decreed.  "Extreme 
cruelty"  was  cause  for  "divorce  from  bed  and  board,"  and  no  other 
causes  were  recognized.  If  the  defendant  was  a  non-resident,  publi- 
cation had  to  be  made  in  a  newspaper  published  in  the  territory 
where  there  was  none  in  the  county  once  a  week  for  forty  weeks. 

The  last  session  of  the  legislative  council  for  the  Northwest  terri- 
tory sat  in  1798,  and  in  October  of  that  year  the  general  assembly 
was  elected,  and  commenced  its  first  session  September  16,  1799. 
The  counties  then  organized,  with  dates  of  organization  and  county 
seats,  were  as  follows: 

Washington,  July  26,  1788,  Marietta;  Hamilton,  January,  1790, 
Cincinnati;  Knox,  February,  1790,  Vincennes ;  St.  Clair,  March, 
1790,  Kaskaskia;  Wayne,  July,  1796,  Detroit;  Adams,  July  10, 
1797,  Adamsville;  Jefferson,  1797;  Ross,  August  20,  1798,  Chili- 
cothe.  Henry  Vanderburg,  of  Knox,  was  president  of  the  council, 
and  Shadrach  Bond  represented  the  county  in  the  lower  house. 

That  general  assembly,  by  its  first  act,  ratified  nearly  all  the  laws 
of  the  governor  and  judges  then  in  force,  the  preamble  of  the  act  re- 
citing that,  "Whereas,  it  hath  been  represented  to  the  general  assem- 
bly by  his  Excellency  the  Governor  of  the  territory,  that,  on  several 
occasions,  laws  have  been  enacted  by  the  governor  and  judges  of 


28  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

their  own  authority,  and  that  those  laws  are  of  very  doubtful  obli- 
gation, and  that  they  have  been  spoken  of  from  the  bench ;  therefore, 
to  confirm  and  enforce  those  laws,  Be  it  enacted,"  etc. 

It  passed  "an  act  regulating  the  admission  and  practice  of  attor- 
nies  and  counsellors",  containing  thirteen  sections,  and  covering 
more  than  eight  printed  pages  of  the  statute  book.  He  must  be  li- 
censed as  such  attorney  and  counsellor  by  the  governor,  and  could 
then  practice  during  "good  behavior",  and  demand  and  take  only 
such  fees  as  might  be  established  by  law.  Before  he  could  be  licensed 
by  the  governor,  he  must  procure  the  certificate  of  at  least  two 
judges  of  the  general  court,  that  he  had  been  regularly  examined 
and  found  duly  qualified.  He  could  not  be  admitted  to  such  exam- 
ination without  having  obtained  a  rule  of  the  general  court  for  the 
purpose,  and  he  could  not  obtain  that  rule  without  producing,  in 
support  of  the  motion  for  it,  a  certificate  from  a  practising  attorney, 
residing  in  the  territory,  setting  forth  that  he  was  of  good  moral 
character,  that  he  had  "regularly  and  attentively  studied  law  under 
his  direction,  within  the  territory  for  the  space  of  four  years,  and 
also  that  he  believes  him  to  be  a  person  of  sufficient  abilities  and 
legal  knowledge  to  discharge  the  duties  of  an  attorney  at  law." 
After  all  these  preliminaries,  the  examination  was  held  by  two  or 
more  of  the  judges,  or  by  such  person  or  persons  as  they  might  ap- 
point, after  three  days'  notice  previously  given  in  open  court,  and 
the  judges  were  required  to  grant  a  certificate  without  "unreason- 
able" delay,  "stating  truly"  whether  they  believed  him  qualified  or 
not.  Then  he  must  take  the  oath  of  office  and  subscribe  the  roll  of 
attorneys.  If  he  did  not,  the  clerk  could  enter  it  for  him  by  direc- 
tion of  the  judges.  If  neither  were  done,  he  was  not  suffered  to 
practice  law  in  the  territory  after  the  second  term  had  passed.  The 
judges  could  strike  his  name  from  the  roll  for  misconduct  after  no- 
tice of  the  charge.  They  could  punish  him  in  a  summary  way  for 
contempt  of  court.  They  could  proceed  summarily  against  him  if 
he  collected  moneys  for  his  client  and  failed  to  pay  it  when  de- 
manded, and  could  order  him  arrested  and  held  to  bail.  No  one  not 
a  citizen,  no  judge  of  any  court,  justice  of  the  peace,  clerk  of  court, 
prothonotary,  coroner,  sheriff,  deputy  sheriff,  jailor  or  constable 
could  practice  law  in  any  county  where  he  so  served.  If  any  one 
received  a  fee  without  securing  the  license  above  mentioned,  it  could 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  29 

be  recovered  back  with  costs,  and  a  forfeiture  of  three  times  the  sum 
could  be  sued  for  and  recovered,  one-half  for  the  use  of  the  plain- 
tiff and  one-half  for  the  county  in  which  the  suit  was  brought. 

It  would  seem  that  the  lawmakers  of  1799  had  a  more  exalted 
opinion  of  what  a  lawyer  should  be  than  did  the  framers  of  the  con- 
stitution of  1 85 1,  who  declared  citizenship  and  good  moral  character 
were  the  only  qualifications  necessary. 

On  the  4th  of  July,  1800,  Indiana  territory  came  into  existence 
as  a  territory  of  the  first  grade,  with  a  form  of  government  similar 
to  that  of  the  Northwest  territory.  The  executive  and  the  law- 
making council  consisted  of  Governor  William  Henry  Harrison  and 
Judges  William  Clark,  Henry  Vanderburg  and  John  Griffin.  On 
that  day  they  met  at  Vincennes,  as  the  seat  of  government  of  the 
new  territory,  and  proceeded  to  organize  a  government  which  had 
jurisdiction  from  the  Ohio  line  to  the  Mississippi.  There  were 
then  three  organized  counties  in  that  great  domain,  with  less  than 
five  thousand  white  inhabitants  in  all  of  them,  to-wit:  Knox,  St. 
Clair  and  Randolph.  By  August  1st  a  full  set  of  officers  had  been 
appointed  in  each,  and  the  governmental  machinery  was  in  work- 
ing order. 

The  last  session  of  the  governor  and  judges  as  a  legislative  body 
was  held  in  1803,  as  the  territory  numbered  five  thousand  inhab- 
itants in  the  beginning  of  1804,  and  passed  to  the  second  grade. 
Clark,  Wayne  and  Dearborn  had  been  added  to  the  list  of  counties, 
and  we  were  in  Wayne,  extending  from  the  Ohio  river  to  the  Brit- 
ish possessions,  and  westward  indefinitely. 

Illinois  territory  was  organized  in  1809,  and  Indiana  took  its 
present  shape  and  dimensions,  and  in  1816  passed  to  the  dignity  of 
a  state.  In  181 5  a  census  was  taken  under  a  legislative  order  pre- 
paratory to  statehood,  with  the  following  result,  as  taken  from  the 
official  report:  "Wain  county,  6,406;  Franklin  county,  7,370; 
Dearborn  county,  4,424;  Switzerland  county,  1,332;  Jefferson 
county,  4,223;  Clark  county,  7,153;  Washington  county,  7,317; 
Harrison  county,  6,946;  Knox  county,  8,062;  Gibson  county,  5,650; 
Posey  county,  1,811;  Warrick  county,  1,415;  Perry  county, 
1,700;  total,  63,649." 

At  this  time  there  was  not  a  house  north  of  Fort  Wayne,  nor 
between  Fort  Wayne  and  Chicago,  and  there  were  but  three  weekly 


3o  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

newspapers  in  the  state,  one  at  Vincennes,  one  at  Vevay  and  one  at 
Corydon. 

By  an  act  of  the  first  legislature,  approved  December  24,  18 16, 
the  state  was  divided  into  three  circuits,  with  a  president  and  two 
associate  judges  in  each.  Knox,  Gibson,  Warrick,  Posey,  Perry, 
Pike  and  Davies  composed  the  first  circuit ;  Harrison,  Clark,  Wash- 
ington and  Orange  the  second,  and  Wayne,  Franklin,  Dearborn, 
Switzerland  and  Jefferson  the  third.  By  act  approved  January  10, 
1 818,  Randolph  county  was  formed  from  Wayne,  and  comprised 
all  the  territory  north  to  the  Indiana  boundary  and  the  Ohio  line. 

Captain  Riley,  the  author  of  "Riley's  Narrative,"  visited  Fort 
Wayne  in  1819,  and  says  there  were  less  than  thirty  houses  around 
the  fort.  In  1823  there  were  thirteen  weekly  newspapers  in  the 
state.  The  first  daily  was  the  New  Albany  Gazette,  established  in 
1838.  The  first  steamboat  to  pass  up  the  Wabash  was  the  "Flor- 
ence," Captain  Donne,  in  May,  1824.  The  complaint  was  made 
that  too  many  steamboats  monopolized  the  Ohio  river  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  flat  boats.  In  1822  Samuel  Hanna  was  appointed  the  first 
postmaster  of  Fort  Wayne,  and  a  regular  mail,  once  a  week,  was 
established  from  Maumee  and  Piqua,  Ohio.  Prior  to  that  time  the 
people  depended  for  the  mails  upon  the  military  express,  and  upon 
chance.  The  land  office  was  established  in  Fort  Wayne  the  same 
year,  and  the  first  sale  of  lands  was  held  October  22,  1823.  The 
land  on  which  the  settlers  around  the  fort  had  built  was  bid  in  by 
John  T.  Barr  and  John  McCorkle,  who  in  1824  laid  off  into  one 
hundred  and  eighteen  lots  what  is  now  known  as  the  old,  or  original, 
plat  of  Fort  Wayne. 

In  1823  the  state  had  but  two  congressional  districts,  and  when 
Judge  Test  was  elected  from  this  district  there  were  not  more  than 
fifty  votes  in  the  county. 

There  was  a  case  disposed  of  in  1824  outside  the  usual  custom 
of  courts.  A  Miami  stabbed  and  killed  an  Ottawa  at  the  southwest 
corner  of  Clinton  and  Columbia  streets,  Fort  Wayne,  rather,  where 
that  corner  now  is.  The  Ottawas  formed  a  war  party  of  several 
hundred,  and  came  to  demand  reparation  or  blood,  threatening  an 
immediate  attack  upon  the  Miamis.  Chief  Richardville  called  a 
council  of  his  tribe,  and  agreed  that  five  thousand  dollars  might  be 
taken  out  of  the  Miami  annuity  and  paid  as  blood  money  to  the 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  31 

Ottawas.  Samuel  Hanna  and  James  Barnet  advanced  goods  to  that 
amount,  and  took  an  order  for  the  annuity,  thus  averting  bloodshed, 
and  at  the  same  time  ''turning  an  honest  penny." 

The  constitution  of  the  new  state  of  Indiana,  formed  in  18 16, 
provided  that  "the  judiciary  power  of  the  state,  both  as  to  matters 
of  law  and  equity,  shall  be  vested  in  one  supreme  court,  in  circuit 
courts,  and  in  such  other  inferior  courts  as  the  general  assembly 
may  from  time  to  time  direct  and  establish."  The  supreme  court 
was  to  consist  of  three  judges,  two  of  whom  should  form  a  quorum, 
and  have  appellate  jurisdiction  only.  The  judges  of  all  the  courts 
were  to  hold  office  for  the  term  of  seven  years,  "if  they  shall  so 
long  behave  well."  The  judges  of  the  supreme  court  were  to  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  governor,  by  and  with  the  advice  of  the  senate.  The 
circuit  courts  were  provided  for  as  follows : 

"The  circuit  courts  shall  each  consist  of  a  president  and  two  asso- 
ciate judges.  The  state  shall  be  divided  by  law  into  three  circuits, 
for  each  of  which  a  president  shall  be  appointed,  who,  during  his 
continuance  in  office,  shall  reside  therein.  The  president  and  asso- 
ciate judges,  in  their  respective  counties,  shall  have  common  law  and 
chancery  jurisdiction,  as  also  complete  criminal  jurisdiction,  in  all 
such  cases,  and  in  such  manner  as  shall  be  prescribed  by  law.  The 
president  alone,  in  the  absence  of  the  associate  judges,  or  the  presi- 
dent and  one  of  the  associate  judges,  in  the  absence  of  the  other, 
shall  be  competent  to  hold  a  court,  as  also  the  two  associate  judges, 
in  the  absence  of  the  president,  shall  be  competent  to  hold  a  court, 
except  in  capital  cases,  and  cases  in  chancery." 

The  presidents  of  the  circuit  courts  were  to  be  chosen  by  joint 
ballot  of  both  branches  of  the  general  assembly;  and  the  associate 
judges  were  to  be  elected  by  the  qualified  electors  in  the  respective 
counties.  The  circuit  courts  were  to  be  held  in  the  respective  coun- 
ties as  directed  by  law.  There  was  a  provision  that  as  many  circuits 
might  be  created  as  the  exigencies  of  the  state  from  time  to  time 
demanded.  The  clerk  was  also  to  be  elected  by  the  voters  of  each 
county  for  a  term  of  seven  years,  and  was  not  eligible  until  he  had 
obtained  from  one  of  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court,  or  from  one 
of  the  presidents  of  the  circuit  courts,  a  certificate  that  he  was  quali- 
fied to  execute  the  duties  of  the  office. 


32  THE   MAUMEE    RIVER   BASIN. 

The  first  general  assembly  which  met  divided  the  state  into 
three  circuits.  The  counties  of  Wayne,  Franklin,  Dearborn,  Swit- 
zerland and  Jefferson  formed  the  third  circuit,  in  which  court  was 
to  be  held  once  in  each  county  during  each  year.  It  was  enacted 
that  the  president  and  associate  judges  should,  before  entering  upon 
their  duties,  take  an  oath  or  affirmation  to  administer  justice  with- 
out respect  to  persons,  and  to  perform  all  the  duties  incumbent  on 
him,  according  to  the  best  of  his  abilities  and  understanding,  agree- 
ably to  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  state,  which  oath  or  affir- 
mation was  to  be  endorsed  on  their  respective  commissions.  The 
court  in  Wayne  county,  in  which  was  Fort  Wayne,  was  to  be  held 
on  the  second  Mondays  in  March,  June  and  October,  and  was  to 
"sit  six  judicial  days,  if  the  business  before  them1  shall  require  it." 
If  two  of  the  three  judges  failed  to  appear  on  the  first  day  of  the 
term,  the  judge  present,  or  the  sheriff,  if  no  judge  were  present, 
could  adjourn  court  for  two  successive  days,  when,  if  a  quorum  of 
the  judges  did  not  appear,  court  stood  adjourned  for  the  term. 

At  the  same  session,  justices  of  the  peace  for  each  county,  with 
jurisdiction  over  misdemeanors,  holding  to  bail,  and  in  civil  matters 
in  the  sum  of  fifty  dollars,  were  provided  for. 

A  board  of  county  commissioners  for  each  county  was  also  es- 
tablished at  the  same  session,  to  consist  of  three  persons,  the  one 
receiving  the  highest  number  of  votes  to  serve  three  years,  the  next 
highest  two  years,  and  the  next  highest  one  year,  but  if  two  or 
more  should  be  equal,  their  grade  was  to  be  determined  by  lot.  It 
was  created  "a  body  politic  and  corporate,"  "to  sue  and  be  sued"  and 
"to  do  and  transact  on  behalf  of  said  county  all  business  that  shall  be 
assigned  to  them  by  law."  It  was  to  meet  at  the  court  house  on  the 
second  Mondays  of  February,  May,  August  and  November,  and 
continue  in  session  three  days  if  the  business  required  it. 

By  an  act  of  January  10,  1818,  the  county  of  Randolph  was 
formed  from  the  north  end  of  Wayne,  and  commissioners  were  ap- 
pointed to  fix  the  seat  of  justice  for  the  new  county,  and  until  suit- 
able accommodations  could  be  provided  at  such  county  seat,  all 
courts  were  to  be  held  at  the  house  of  William  Way. 

In  1 8 18  change  of  venue  was  provided  for  in  case  any  of  the 
judges  were  father,  son,  brother,  uncle,  first  cousin  or  brother-in- 
law,  or  were  interested,  but  there  was  a  fine  of  five  dollars  if  the 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  33 

applicant  for  change  failed  to  appear  or  to  prove  that  he  had  proper 
cause  for  the  change,  "for  his  false  clamor." 

There  was  also  a  probate  court,  but  sometimes  it  was  presided 
over  by  a  judge  of  probate,  and  at  times  the  associate  judges  of  the 
circuit  court  had  jurisdiction  in  the  matter  of  guardianships  and 
wills. 

As  the  county  seat  of  Knox  county  was  Vincennes,  that  of 
Wayne  county,  Centreville,  and  of  the  new  county  of  Randolph, 
Winchester,  and  no  courts  were  held  at  Fort  Wayne  until  1824, 
there  is  no  record  here  of  the  judges,  prosecuting  attorneys  and 
sheriffs  who  served  prior  to  the  latter  date.  Wayne  county  extended 
from  the  Ohio  river  north  to  the  boundary  of  Canada,  and  from  the 
Ohio  state  line  west  to  the  west  line  of  Jefferson  county  extended 
northward. 

In  1876  the  writer  found  among  the  old  papers  of  the  Astor 
trading  post  on  the  island  of  Mackinac,  a  warrant  addressed  "to 
any  constable  of  Wayne  township,  Indiana  territory,"  which  was 
placed  in  the  State  Library  at  Indianapolis,  as  a  legal  memento  of 
ancient  times. 

By  the  act  of  December  17,  1823,  the  county  of  Allen,  named  for 
Col.  John  Allen,  of  Kentucky,  who  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  the 
River  Raisin,  July  22,  18 13,  was  organized  from  Randolph  and 
Delaware,  with  its  present  boundaries,  but  what  is  now  Wells, 
Adams  and  Huntington,  and  all  north  to  the  Michigan  line  was  at- 
tached to  it  for  jurisdictional  purposes.  The  act  took  effect  April 
1,  1824,  commissioners  were  named  to  fix  the  seat  of  justice  and 
were  to  convene  at  the  house  of  Alexander  Ewing  in  Allen  county 
on  the  fourth  Monday  of  May  to  discharge  their  duties.  This  was 
a  log  tavern  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Barr  and  Columbia  streets. 
The  circuit  court  was  also  to  meet  there,  but  with  power  to  remove 
to  any  other  place  until  the  public  buildings  should  be  completed, 
when  it  was  to  meet  at  the  court  house.  The  board  of  county  com- 
missioners were  also  to  meet  at  Ewing's  house  on  the  Monday  fol- 
lowing the  election,  and  to  proceed  within  twelve  months  to  erect 
the  necessary  buildings.    The  election  was  to  be  held  May  22,  1824. 

By  the  act  of  January  14,  1824,  the  state  was  divided  into  five 
circuits,  and  Allen,  Randolph,  Wayne,  Union,  Fayette,  Franklin, 
Dearborn,  Switzerland  and  Ripley  formed  the  third  circuit.     The 

3 


34  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

court  in  Allen  county  was  to  be  held  the  second  Mondays  of  Feb- 
ruary and  August. 

The  important  provisions  of  the  act  organizing  Allen  county, 
and  defining  its  boundaries  read : 

"Be  it  enacted  by  the  general  assembly  of  the  state  of  Indiana, 
That  from  and  after  the  first  day  of  April  next,  all  that  tract  of 
country  included  within  the  following  boundaries,  shall  form  and 
constitute  a  new  county,  to  be  known  and  designated  as  the  county 
of  Allen,  to-wit : 

"Beginning  at  a  point  on  the  line  dividing  this  state  and  the 
state  of  Ohio,  where  the  township  lines  dividing  townships  Twenty- 
eight  and  Twenty-nine  north,  intersects  the  same;  thence  north 
with  said  state  line  twenty-four  miles ;  thence  west  to  the  line  divid- 
ing ranges  Ten  and  Eleven  east;  thence  south  to  the  line  dividing 
townships  Twenty-eight  and  Twenty-nine  north;  thence  east  to  the 
place  of  beginning. 

"The  said  new  county  of  Allen  shall,  from  and  after  the  first  day 
of  April  next,  enjoy  all  the  rights,  privileges  and  jurisdictions  which 
to  separate  counties  do  and  may  properly  belong  and  appertain. " 

The  jurisdictional  power  over  unassigned  territory  would  in 
these  days  seem  curious.  It  reads,  "That  all  of  that  part  of  the  new 
purchase  lying  south  of  the  county  of  Allen,  and  north  of  the  town- 
ship line  dividing  townships  Twenty-five  and  Twenty-six  north,  so 
far  west  as  the  line  dividing  ranges  Seven  and  Eight  east,  and  also 
that  part  of  the  new  purchase  lying  north  of  said  county  of  Allen, 
including  all  that  territory  contained  within  the  line  of  said  county, 
and  the  northern  boundary  of  the  state,  shall  be  attached  to  the  said 
county  of  Allen ;  and  the  inhabitants  residing  within  the  said  bounds 
shall  enjoy  all  the  rights  and  privileges  that  to  the  citizens  of  the 
said  county  of  Allen  shall  or  may  properly  belong;  and  that  the 
said  county  of  Allen  shall  have  jurisdiction,  both  civil  and  criminal, 
over  the  territory  so  attached,  in  all  cases  as  though  the  same  were 
a  constituent  part  of  the  said  county  of  Allen." 

The  good  citizen  would  go  far  if  he  desired  to  exercise  a  voter's 
privilege,  and  the  wrong  doer  would  have  just  as  far  to  go  to  answer 
to  his  misdemeanors  or  crimes,  and  in  this  way  the  privileges  and 
burdens  of  the  dweller  in  the  wilderness  were  in  some  part  equal- 
ized. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  35 

The  commissioners  to  locate  the  county  seat,  Lot  Bloomfield,  of 
Wayne,  Abiather  Hathaway,  of  Fayette,  William  Connor,  of  Ham- 
ilton, and  James  M.  Ray,  of  Marion,  met  at  the  house  of  Alexander 
Ewing  on  the  24th  of  May,  and  among  the  propositions  they  had  to 
consider  was  one  from  John  McCorkle  and  John  T.  Barr,  proprie- 
tors of  the  town  plat,  which  they  had  just  laid  out,  offering  to  pay 
five  hundred  dollars  cash  and  to  donate  to  the  county  "all  of  that 
oblong  square  or  piece  of  ground  situate  and  being  in  the  town  of 
Fort  Wayne  aforesaid,  and  stained  red  on  the  plat  of  said  town  as 
recorded  in  the  recorder's  office  of  Randolph  county  in  said  state, 
which  is  granted  as  a  public  square,  whereon  public  buildings  for 
said  county  are  to  be  erected,  and  bounded  by  Main,  Court,  Berry 
and  Calhoun  streets."  This  is  probably  the  first  recorded  instance 
of  "painting  the  town  red,"  and  takes  that  phrase  out  of  the  realm 
of  slang  into  that  of  history,  if  not  the  classics. 

They  also  offered  the  lot  at  the  northwest  corner  of  the  town 
plat,  four  rods  square,  "for  a  church,  to  be  of  no  particular  de- 
nomination, but  free  to  all" ;  and  another  of  the  same  size  east  of  the 
same  "for  a  seminary  of  learning";  and  lots  8,  9,  101,  102,  103  and 
104  to  118  inclusive,  with  the  tier  of  lots  opposite  104  to  118.  This 
was  accepted,  and  thus  the  seat  of  justice  was  located.  Of  course 
the  judge  of  this  immense  circuit  was  obliged  to  travel  far  and  dili- 
gently if  he  held  court  in  nine  such  counties  twice  a  year,  and  he 
was  not  always  present. 

When  Allen  county  was  formed,  Hon.  William  W.  Wick  was 
judge  of  the  circuit,  but  he  failed  to  put  in  an  appearance  at  the 
opening  of  the  first  term  of  court  in  the  new  county  of  Allen.  In 
the  meantime,  an  election  for  associate  judges,  clerk  of  the  court, 
recorder  of  the  county,  and  three  commissioners  had  been  held  on 
the  22d  of  May,  1824,  and  Samuel  Hanna  and  Benjamin  Cush- 
man  were  elected  associate  judges,  Anthony  L.  Davis  as  clerk,  and 
William  Rockhill,  James  Wyman  and  Frances  Comparet  a.s  com- 
missioners. These  associate,  or  "side"  judges,  as  they  were  com- 
monly known,  were  not  always  chosen  from  the  legal  profession, 
and  could  not  always  be  called  "lawyers",  but  they  could  hold 
court  in  the  absence  of  the  presiding  judge,  and,  when  present, 
could  overrule  him  in  the  decision  of  causes,  if  they  chose  to  do  so. 

At  the  first  term  of    the  Allen    circuit    court,   held  at  Fort 


36  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

Wayne  at  the  tavern  of  Alexander  Ewing,  as  prescribed  by  law, 
associate  judges  Hanna  and  Cushman  presented  their  commissions, 
took  the  oath  of  office,  and,  in  the  absence  of  Judge  Wick,  the  pre- 
siding judge,  opened  the  court.  Anthony  L.  Davis  presented  his 
commission  as  clerk,  and  Allen  Hamilton  as  sheriff,  and  were  duly 
qualified  by  bond  and  oath,  and  thus  the  Allen  circuit  court  was 
fully  equipped  and  ready  for  business.  Charles  W.  Ewing  was 
appointed  by  the  court  as  prosecuting  attorney.  The  sheriff  re- 
turned the  grand  jury  venire,  with  the  following  jurors:  John  Tip- 
ton, Paul  Taber,  William  Suttonfield,  Alexander  Ewing,  James 
Hackley,  Charles  Weeks,  John  Davis,  William  Probst,  Horace 
Taylor,  James  Wyman,  James  Cannon  and  Peter  Felix.  The  lat- 
ter was  excused  by  the  court,  and  the  sheriff  ordered  to  fill  the 
panel  from  the  traverse  jury  and  Cyrus  Taber  and  William  N. 
Hood  were  summoned.  Why  the  supposed  unlucky  "thirteen"  was 
taken  for  the  first  grand  jury  is  not  apparent.  General  John  Tip- 
ton, of  heroic  and  historic  fame,  was  chosen  foreman  of  this  first 
grand  jury  of  Allen  county,  and  the  jury  was  sworn  and  charged  in 
due  form. 

The  first  business  of  the  court  was  the  admission  of  William  G. 
Ewing  as  an  attorney  of  the  court,  and  a  license  was  granted  to 
Alexander  Ewing  to  keep  a  tavern  in  the  town  of  Fort  Wayne. 
The  first  case  docketed  was  that  of  "Richard  Swain  vs.  Joseph 
Trantner,  Trespass  on  the  Case."  It  was  continued  to  the  next 
term.  Two  divorce  cases  were  docketed  and  publication  ordered 
in  the  "Enquirer,"  of  Richmond,  Indiana.  Francis  Aveline,  alias 
St.  Jule,  was  the  first  foreigner  to  be  naturalized  in  Allen  county. 
The  name  still  exists  on  the  Aveline  House,  southeast  corner  of 
Calhoun  and  Berry,  but  in  no  other  way. 

The  grand  jury  found  work  ready  for  its  hands.  Sixteen  in- 
dictments were  returned  by  it,  two  for  adultery,  one  for  playing 
cards,  or  gambling,  one  for  assault  and  battery,  and  the  others  for 
illegal  sale  of  spirituous  liquors.  Both  the  judges  and  one  of  the 
grand  jury  were  caught  in  this  net.  The  latter  was  fined  three 
dollars  and  costs,  while  indictments  against  the  judges  went  over 
the  term,  and  at  the  next  term  were  "nolle  prossed".  It  would 
seem  that  the  judges  in  those  days  had  some  influence  in  their  own 
courts.     Nine  of  the  ten  charged  with  illegal  sale  of  spirituous 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  37 

liquors  pleaded  guilty  and  were  fined  three  dollars  and  costs  each, 
except  one  who  had  sinned  a  dollar's  worth  more  than  the  others, 
and  got  a  four  dollar  sentence.  Two  of  those  charged  with  "playing 
games"  pleaded  not  guilty,  demanded  a  jury,  and  drew  ten  dollars 
and  costs  each  for  their  folly. 

By  act  of  February  12,  1825,  Allen  county  was  attached  to  the 
fifth  circuit,  of  which  Indianapolis  was  part. 

Allen  Hamilton  was  sheriff,  and  was  allowed  sixteen  dollars 
and  sixty-six  and  two-thirds  cents  for  his  services  at  the  first  term 
and  for  the  four  months  preceding,  and  the  prosecuting  attorney 
was  happy  over  an  allowance  of  five  dollars.  The  grand  jury  re- 
ceived one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  each,  and  Robert  Haas,  as  con- 
stable of  the  court,  was  allowed  seventy-five  cents  per  day  for  the 
four  days  of  court. 

June  6,  1825,  the  record  shows  that  the  court  convened  at  the 
house  of  William  G.  Ewing,  and  Hon.  Bethuel  F.  Morris,  of  Indi- 
anapolis, who  had  been  appointed  by  the  governor  circuit  judge,  vice 
William  W.  Wick,  resigned,  appeared  and  held  court  wTith  Hon. 
Samuel  Hanna  as  "side"  judge.  "The  woman  taken  in  adultery" 
was  tried,  acquitted  on  the  first,  and  found  guilty  on  the  second 
count  of  the  indictment,  and  sentenced  to  fifteen  days'  imprison- 
ment. Her  alleged  paramour  was  acquitted.  A  motion  for  a  new 
trial  was  entered,  she  admitted  to  bail,  and  at  the  next  term  was 
discharged  on  a  motion  in  arrest  of  judgment.  James  Rariden  and 
Calvin  Fletcher,  of  Indianapolis,  were  present  and  admitted  to  the 
bar.  The  first  final  judgment  in  a  civil  case  was  rendered  in  favor 
of  John  P.  Hedges  vs.  William  Suttonfield,  trespass  on  the  case ;  for 
twenty-five  cents  and  costs  of  suit.  The  first  decree  of  divorce  was 
at  that  term  to  Anna  Cannada.  She  was  ordered  to  pay  the  costs 
within  ninety  days  or  be  attached.  A  publication  was  ordered  to  be 
made  in  the  "Western  Emporium, "  printed  at  Centreville,  Wayne 
county. 

At  the  November  term,  1825,  the  associate  judges  held  court 
in  the  absence  of  the  president.  John  Tipton  was  indicted  for  as- 
sault and  battery,  pleaded  guilty,  and  was  fined  three  dollars,  "for 
the  use  of  the  county  seminary  of  Allen  county."  His  fighting  days 
were  not  yet  over. 

The  first  indictment  for  murder  was  of  an  Indian.     It  alleged 


38  THE    MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

that  "Saganaugh,  an  Indian  man  late  of  the  county  of  Allen  afore- 
said, laborer,  of  sound  memory  and  discretion,  not  having  the  fear 
of  God  before  his  eyes,  but  being  moved  and  seduced  by  the  instiga- 
tion of  the  devil,"  did  stab  and  kill  one  "Natwatine,  an  Indian  man, 
and  a  reasonable  creature  in  being,  in  the  peace  of  God,  etc."  The 
case  was  continued  several  terms  for  process,  which  seems  not  to 
have  been  served,  and  was  finally  dropped  from  the  docket.  He 
seems  to  carry  the  honors  as  the  first  inmate  of  the  Allen  county 
jail. 

At  the  August  term,  1826,  Hon.  Miles  C.  Eggleston,  of  Madi- 
son, presented  his  commission  as  circuit  judge,  and  took  his  seat. 
Allen  county  had  been,  by  act  of  January  21,  1866,  taken  from  the 
fifth  and  transferred  back  to  the  third  circuit.  Associate  Judge 
Cushman  was  his  associate  judge,  but  was  himself  tried  for  re- 
tailing liquors  illegally  and  acquitted.  He  was  not  so  fortunate  a 
year  later,  when  tried  for  carrying  concealed  weapons,  for  he  was 
fined  twenty-five  cents  and  costs.  The  late  prosecuting  attorney  was 
tried  and  fined  three  dollars  and  costs  for  gambling. 

The  courts  were  sometimes  held  at  William  Suttonfield's  tavern, 
on  the  northeast  corner  of  Barr  and  Columbia  streets.  He  seemed 
to  be  frequently  a  defendant  in  minor  cases,  and  Judge  Smith,  in 
"Early  Trials  and  Sketches,"  tells  an  interesting  story  of  his  being 
charged  before  'Squire  Hood  with  having  marked  a  sow  with  in- 
tent to  steal  it.  The  old  hero  indignantly  demanded  an  immediate 
trial,  and  by  jury.  Only  eleven  men  were  present  beside  the  prose- 
cutor. "Put  the  prosecutor  on,"  roared  Suttonfield,  and  it  was  done 
and  the  jury  sworn.  The  'squire  ordered  the  constable  to  call  the 
roll  of  the  jury,  and  each  answered  "not  guilty"  until  the  prosecutor 
squeaked  out  "guilty."  "The  vote  is  almost  unanimous,"  exultantly 
cried  the  Colonel,  and  the  justice  held  him  unanimously  acquitted, 
as  the  prosecutor  was  governed  by  malice  prepense.  We  presume 
this  was  when  Judge  Smith  came  to  attend  court  in  1825,  when  he 
says  there  were  but  two  hundred  inhabitants  in  Fort  Wayne,  and 
Allen  county  had  but  fifty  votes.  When  he  ran  for  congress  he 
made  the  long  and  difficult  journey  to  Fort  Wayne  to  look  after 
his  political  fences,  and  only  received  ten  votes  in  the  county,  while 
in  the  district  his  majority  was  one  thousand  five  hundred. 

At  the  February  term,  1826,  held  by  Associate  Judges  Hanna 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  39 

and  Cushman,  it  was  "ordered  by  the  court  that  the  town  plat  of 
the  town  of  Fort  Wayne  be  considered  and  established  as  the  prison 
bounds  for  Allen  county,  in  the  state  of  Indiana." 

At  the  August  term,  1826,  Judge  Eggleston  presided,  with 
Judge  Cushman  as  "side"  judge.  At  this  time  the  grand  jury  pre- 
sented a  report  on  the  condition  of  the  jail,  which  resembles  the  de- 
scription of  the  gun  which  had  no  lock,  stock  or  barrel.  It  reported 
that  "the  criminals'  rooms  are  not  a  place  of  safety  for  persons  com- 
mitted thereto,  and  that  the  debtors'  room  is  not  in  a  suitable  condi- 
tion for  the  reception  of  debtors  from  the  want  of  locks,  floors  and 
bedding."  There  seems  to  have  been  no  thought  in  the  mind  of  the 
grand  jury  that  both  criminals  and  debtors  might  disagree  with  its 
report  and  consider  their  personal  safety  better  conserved  by  the  ab- 
sence of  locks  and  floors.  Something  always  depends  upon  the 
standpoint  from  which  we  view  things. 

To  Judge  Eggleston  belongs  the  credit  of  requiring  a  record  of 
marriages  to  be  kept  in  Allen  county. 

It  has  been  overlooked  that  at  the  November  term,  1825,  Charles 
W.  Ewing,  as  prosecuting  attorney,  presented,  pursuant  to  order,  a 
device  for  a  seal  to  be  used  by  the  court.  For  some  reason  unknown 
his  device  was  ignored  and  the  clerk  was  authorized  to  order  a  seal, 
"with  such  a  device  as  he  may  deem  best."  At  the  same  term  Cal- 
vin Fletcher,  later  a  prominent  banker  of  Indianapolis,  presented 
his  commission  as  prosecutor,  and  was  sworn  in,  and  in  August, 
1826,  Amos  Lane,  of  Lawrenceburg,  succeeded  him. 

The  next  term  of  the  court  was  held  at  the  house  of  William 
Suttonfield  on  the  13th  of  August,  1827.  The  president  judge  and 
both  associate  judges  were  present.  Oliver  H.  Smith,  then  of  Con- 
nersville,  author  of  "Indiana  Trials  and  Sketches,"  presented  his 
commission  as  prosecuting  attorney.  He  served  with  ability,  was 
later  a  member  of  the  general  assembly,  a  member  of  congress  and 
senator  from  Indiana  in  the  United  States  senate.  He  was  a  lawyer 
of  ability,  a  statesman  of  good  ideals  and  ranked  among  the  good 
lawyers  of  the  state.  His  reminiscences  of  his  experiences  as  lawyer 
on  the  circuit,  prosecutor  and  judge  of  the  court,  as  congressman 
and  senator,  embodied  in  "Early  Indiana  Trials  and  Sketches," 
are  well  worth  the  study  of  those  seeking  the  foundation  stones  of 
our  state  history.     At  this  term  of  the  court  Associate  Judge  Cush- 


40  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

man  was  indicted  for  carrying  concealed  weapons.  He  had  already 
been  convicted  on  another  charge,  and  it  is  curious  to  note  that  he 
was  generally  regarded  as  a  good  citizen  and  had  the  confidence  of 
the  voters  of  the  county  without  regard  to  the  indictments  which 
were  found  against  him. 

The  next  term,  May  12,  1828,  was  held  at  the  house  of  Benja- 
min Archer.  Associate  Judges  Cushman  and  William  H.  Hood,  the 
latter  having  been  lately  elected,  held  the  court  in  the  absence  of  the 
presiding  judge.  David  Wallace  was  appointed  and  sworn  as 
prosecuting  attorney  for  the  term.  It  is  well  to  stop  and  notice  this 
appointment.  He  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  in  1799  and  was 
brought  by  his  father  to  Ohio  when  a  small  boy  and  settled  near  the 
residence  of  Gen.  William  H.  Harrison,  who,  then  in  congress,  had 
young  Wallace  appointed  a  cadet  at  West  Point.  After  graduation 
he  served  about  a  year,  resigned  and  located  at  Brookville,  Indiana, 
and  studied  law  under  Judge  Eggleston.  From  1828  to  1830  he 
was  a  member  of  the  legislature.  In  1831  he  was  elected  lieutenant- 
governor  and  again  in  1834.  In  1837  he  was  elected  governor  and 
issued  the  first  Thanksgiving  proclamation  issued  by  a  governor  of 
Indiana,  establishing  a  precedent  which  has  been  followed  ever 
since.  After  his  term  as  governor  expired  he  opened  an  office  for 
the  practice  of  law  in  Indianapolis,  and  in  1841  was  elected  to  con- 
gress from  that  district.  From  1848  to  1850  he  resided  at  Fort 
Wayne,  but  in  the  latter  year  returned  to  Indianapolis,  and  in  1856 
was  elected  judge  of  the  common  pleas  court,  which  position  he  held 
until  his  death,  in  1859.  His  business  ventures  while  in  Fort 
Wayne  proved  unfortunate,  and  are  said  to  have  cost  him  the  accu- 
mulations of  a  lifetime,  and  left  him  poor.  His  son,  a  major-gen- 
eral of  volunteers  in  the  Civil  war,  and  the  author  of  "The  Fair 
God,"  the  "Prince  of  India"  and  "Ben  Hur,"  added  lustre  to 
the  name. 

At  the  term  commencing  May  11,  1829,  with  Judges  Eggleston, 
Hood  and  Cushman,  Martin  M.  Ray  was  sworn  in  as  prosecuting 
attorney. 

In  1830  the  legislature  created  a  new  judicial  circuit,  composed 
of  the  counties  of  Randolph,  Henry,  Wayne,  Union,  Delaware,  Fay- 
ette, Rush,  Elkhart  and  Allen.  It  was  the  sixth  circuit.  Its  dimen- 
sions can  not  be  accurately  defined  owing  to  uncertainty  as  to  the 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  41 

boundaries  of  some  of  the  counties,  but  it  was  large  enough  to  tax 
the  powers  of  endurance  of  the  presiding  judge  and  circuit-riding 
lawyers.  Hon.  Charles  H.  Test  was  the  first  president  judge  and 
held  the  position  until  1833.  When  elected  there  were  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty-two  voters  in  Allen  county.  He  was  a  lawyer  of 
prominence,  and  in  1845  Governor  Whitcomb  nominated  him  for 
a  position  on  the  supreme  court  bench,  but  the  senate, 
being  on  unfriendly  terms  with  the  governor,  refused  to 
confirm  the  appointment.  He  became  secretary  of  state  for  one  term 
and  later  became  a  circuit  judge,  in  which  capacity  he  served  for 
many  years.  He  opened  the  tenth  term  of  the  Allen  circuit  court, 
with  Hood  as  associate  judge.  James  Perry  was  prosecuting  attor- 
ney. He  was'  from  Centreville,  Wayne  county,  and  remained  in  the 
practice  of  law  there  until  he  was  nearly  ninety  years  old.  At  that 
term  David  H.  Colerick,  a  lawyer  of  great  repute  in  Indiana,  and 
the  progenitor  of  a  famous  line  of  lawyers,  sons  and  grandsons,  who 
have  been  ornaments  to  the  Allen  county  bar,  was  admitted  ex 
gratia  to  this  bar  as  an  attorney  of  the  Ohio  bar.  He  had  a  long, 
useful  and  brilliant  career  as  a  lawyer  in  Fort  Wayne,  and  his  name 
is  yet  potent  at  the  bar  and  among  litigants.  William  J.  Brown  and 
Samuel  C.  Sample  were  successive  prosecuting  attorneys  during 
Judge  Test's  tenn  of  service,  and  Messrs.  Hood  and  Cushman  re- 
mained associate  judges  until  the  April  term,  1831,  when  L.  G. 
Thompson  was  chosen  associate  in  place  of  Cushman.  It  is  said 
that  Judge  Thompson  was  a  man  of  dignified  appearance  and  not 
easily  approached,  and  upon  one  occasion  a  visitor  at  the  court  room 
asked  his  name  and  on  being  informed,  asked  what  the  initials  stood 
for.  The  irreverent  reply  was,  "Why,  'Lord  God,'  of  course ;  what 
do  you  suppose  they  stand  for  ?" 

In  1832  Lagrange  county,  named  for  the  residence  of  La  Fay- 
ette, was  formed  and  added  to  the  circuit,  but  without  changing  the 
jurisdiction  already  exercised  over  that  part  of  Indiana. 

One  of  the  first  cases  to  come  before  Judge  Test,  and  one  of  his- 
toric note,  was  a  trial  for  murder  of  a  Miami  chief. 

"Now-ee-ling-qua,  otherwise  called  Naw-way-ling-quah,"  was  in- 
dicted May  nth  and  tried  May  12th  for  the  murder  of  Wish-mah, 
a  woman  slave  of  his,  half  Indian,  half  negro.  She  disobeyed  him 
while  drunk.    He  lifted  her  left  arm  and  stabbed  her  to  death.  This 


42  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

was  near  Barr  and  Columbia  streets.  Two  of  Indian  blood  were 
on  the  jury,  Jean  Baptiste  Godfrey  and  Henry  Ossem.  He  was  con- 
victed and  sentenced  to  prison  for  two  years,  with  a  fine  of  one  cent 
and  a  recommendation  to  the  mercy  of  the  governor.  Some  writers 
of  history  have  said  he  was  sentenced  to  death  and  pardoned  by  the 
governor,  but  the  record  disproves  the  fact  of  a  death  sentence.  The 
story  is  that  while  awaiting  trial  he  was  told  he  might  be  hanged 
and  the  process  was  described  to  him.  He  asked  for  a  rope  and 
hung  his  dog,  watching  his  death  struggles.  It  was  not  to  his  liking 
and  he  begged  to  be  shot  if  he  had  to  die.  His  tribe  offered  a  sub- 
stitute to  take  his  place — a  worthless  member  of  the  tribe,  who,  they 
said,  "was  a  rascal  of  no  account,  but  would  do  for  hanging." 

In  January,  1833,  the  legislature  created  several  new  counties 
and  also  the  eighth  judicial  circuit,  comprising  the  counties  of  Al- 
len, Cass,  Carroll,  Lagrange,  Elkhart,  St.  Joseph,  Laporte,  Hunting- 
ton, Wabash  and  Miami,  nearly  one-half  of  the  area  of  the  state. 
Hon.  Gustavus  A.  Evarts,  of  South  Bend,  became  judge  of  this  large 
circuit,  and  filled  the  bench,  rather  that  part  of  it  not  occupied  by 
the  "side  judges,"  for  three  years.  The  associates  during  his  term 
were  Hood,  Thompson,  William  G.  Ewing,  David  Rankin  and  Peter 
Huling.  John  B.  Chapman  was  prosecuting  attorney  for  the  two 
years  following  the  change  and  Samuel  C.  Sample  for  the  third.  In 
1834  Carroll  county  was  assigned  to  the  first  circuit  and  Whitley 
organized  and  attached  to  the  eighth.  Noble  and  Adams  counties 
were  at  the  session  of  1836  created  and  attached  without  adding  to 
the  territorial  jurisdiction.  Thus,  in  1836,  the  eighth  circuit  was 
composed  of  Allen,  Cass,  Miami,  Wabash,  Huntington,  Lagrange, 
Elkhart,  St.  Joseph,  Laporte,  Porter,  Marshall,  Fulton,  Kosciusko, 
Noble  and  Adams,  fifteen  counties,  together  with  a  large  unas- 
signed  territory  for  jurisdictional  purposes. 

Hon.  Samuel  C.  Sample,  of  South  Bend,  became  president  judge 
of  this  vast  circuit  in  1836,  but  did  not  long  occupy  the  bench. 
After  a  year's  service  he  became  a  member  of  congress  and  on  leav- 
ing that  position,  took  one  with  the  branch  of  the  State  Bank  at 
South  Bend.  He  had  been  prosecuting  attorney  for  two  terms  prior 
to  becoming  judge.  During  his  term  Joseph  L.  Jernegan,  of  South 
Bend,  was  prosecuting  attorney.     He  removed  to  New  York  City 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  43 

and  became  one  of  the  most  brilliant,  successful  and  opulent  mem- 
bers of  the  bar  of  New  York. 

During  January  and  February,  1837,  Steuben,  DeKalb  and 
Wells  counties  were  fully  organized  and  Jay  had  been  a  year  pre- 
vious. By  act  of  December  9,  1837,  the  eighth  judicial  circuit  was 
reduced  in  size  and  number  of  counties  to  thirteen — Allen,  Adams, 
Cass,  Wells,  Miami,  Wabash,  Huntington,  Jay,  DeKalb,  Steuben, 
Noble,  Lagrange  and  Whitley.  Charles  W.  Ewing,  of  Allen,  be- 
came president  judge  in  1837  and  remained  such  until  the  March 
term,  1839,  when  he  met  an  unfortunate  death.  He  is  said  to  have 
been  a  good  lawyer,  but  eccentric  and  dissipated.  He  had  been 
prosecuting  attorney  at  the  first  organization  of  the  Allen  circuit 
court.  While  he  was  president  judge  Thomas  Johnson  was  prose- 
cuting attorney  and  Peter  Huling,  Nathaniel  Coleman,  Michael 
Shiras  and  Marshall  S.  Wines  associate  judges. 

By  the  act  of  January  30,  1839,  the  eighth  circuit  was  reduced 
to  ten  counties — Allen,  Cass,  Miami,  Wabash,  Whitley,  Hunting- 
ton, Noble,  Lagrange,  Steuben  and  DeKalb — and  Henry  Chase,  of 
Logansport,  became  president  judge  by  appointment  in  August  of 
that  year.  He  is  reported  to  have  been  an  excellent  judge.  During 
his  incumbency  his  associates  were  Nathaniel  S.  Coleman  and  Mar- 
shall S.  Wines.  John  W.  Wright,  of  Logansport,  was  the  prose- 
cuting attorney,  and  in  1840  he  became  president  judge  of  the  cir- 
cuit. After  retiring  from  the  bench  about  1842  he  was  elected 
mayor  of  Logansport,  and  was  prominent  in  railroad  and  banking 
affairs.  He  was  elected  as  a  Democrat  to  the  legislature  in  1856, 
but  declined  to  serve  and  went  to  Kansas  to  take  part  in  defeating 
the  effort  to  make  it  a  slave  state.  He  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
Kansas  constitutional  convention,  later  to  the  legislature  and  was 
chosen  speaker  of  the  house.  After  Lincoln  became  President  he  re- 
moved to  Washington,  D.  C,  became  an  active  and  prosperous 
practitioner  at  the  bar  and  died  there  October  9,  1889.  While  he 
was  president  judge  of  the  Allen  circuit,  Nathaniel  Coleman,  Mar- 
shall S.  Wines  and  J.  H.  McMahon  were  associate  judges. 

Lucian  P.  Ferry,  a  brother  of  the  Michigan  senator  of  that 
name,  was  prosecuting  attorney,  succeeded  by  William  H.  Coombs, 
a  prominent  and  able  lawyer,  and  once  judge  of  the  supreme  court 
by  appointment  to  fill  a  vacancy. 


44  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

The  legislature,  by  act  of  December  14,  1841,  changed  the  judi- 
cial circuits  materially  and  created  the  twelfth  circuit,  with  Allen, 
Adams,  Wells,  Huntington,  Whitley,  Noble,  Steuben,  Lagrange 
and  DeKalb  as  its  boundaries. 

Hon.  James  W.  Borden,  of  Allen  county,  became  president  judge 
in  1842  and  held  the  office  until  1857.  He  was  afterwards  judge 
of  the  common  pleas  and  of  the  criminal  court  of  Allen  county,  and 
died  in  Fort  Wayne.  During  his  term  the  associate  judges  were 
Nathaniel  Coleman,  R.  Starkweather,  J.  H.  McMahon  and  Andrew 
Metzgar.  William  H.  Coombs  was  prosecutor  for  a  time  and  L.  C. 
Jacoby  for  the  latter  part  of  the  term.  The  latter  was  said  to  be  an 
able  lawyer,  but  to  possess  some  peculiar  eccentricities  which  finally 
impelled  him  to  leave  Fort  Wayne  and  "go  West"  Robert  L. 
Douglass  then  became  prosecutor.  He  was  a  lawyer  of  good  prac- 
tice in  Steuben  county  and  in  1851  removed  to  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa, 
prospering  in  his  chosen  profession,  and  died  while  sojourning  in 
Florida. 

Elza  McMahon,  of  Allen  county,  succeeded  him  in  1846,  when 
Joseph  Brackenridge  was  chosen  and  served  for  three  years.  He 
was  one  of  the  legal  lights  of  northern  Indiana  and  served  many 
years  as  counsel  for  the  Pittsburg,  Fort  Wayne  &  Chicago  Rail- 
way and  Pennsylvania  Company.  Full  of  humor,  as  he  was  of  law, 
he  was  a  friend  of  all  and  all  were  his  friends  at  the  bar  and  in  the 
community.  He  became  judge  of  the  criminal  court  and  died  loved 
and  respected  by  all  who  knew  him.  James  L.  Worden  succeeded 
him  as  prosecuting  attorney,  serving  till  1853.  He  later  became 
judge  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  state  and  resigned  to  accept  an 
appointment  of  judge  of  the  superior  court  of  Allen  county.  Edwin 
R.  Wilson  succeeded  him  as  prosecuting  attorney. 

By  the  act  of  June  7,  1852,  the  state  was  redistricted  for  judicial 
purposes,  and  the  tenth  judicial  circuit  was  formed,  comprising  Al- 
len, Adams,  Wells,  Huntington,  Wabash,  Whitley,  Noble,  DeKalb, 
Lagrange,  Steuben,  Elkhart  and  Kosciusko.  By  act  of  January  21, 
1853,  Huntington  and  Wabash  were  assigned  to  another  circuit, 
and  the  circuit  was  then  composed  of  only  ten  counties. 

In  1855  Hon.  James  L.  Worden  became  judge.  He  had  been 
prosecuting  attorney  under  two  of  the  judges  who  preceded  him. 
The  writer  knew  him  well,  and  regarded  him  highly,  and  gives  the 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  45 

estimate  of  him  that  he  was  not  a  close  logician,  but  that  by  intui- 
tion he  recognized  the  crucial  point  in  the  cases  brought  before  him, 
aimed  to  be  right  in  his  decisions  and  generally  succeeded.  He  knew 
where  to  find  the  seeds  and  cut  to  the  core  to  find  them.  His  was  a 
remarkably  clear,  legal  and  equitable  mind.  He  remained  judge  of 
the  circuit  until  1858.  In  January  of  that  year  he  resigned  and 
Reuben  J.  Dawson  was  appointed  by  the  governor  to  fill  out  his  un- 
expired term.  S.  J.  Stoughton,  of  Auburn,  DeKalb  county,  was 
prosecutor  under  Worden  and  Dawson.  He  subsequently  removed 
to  Kansas  and  after  an  honorable  legal  career  there  died.  At  the 
fall  election  Edwin  R.  Wilson,  of  Bluffton,  Wells  county,  was  elected 
and  remained  judge  of  the  court  until  1864.  He  was  born  in  Ohio, 
came  to  Indiana  with  his  parents  in  1840,  studied  law  with  Gov- 
ernor Wright,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1850  and  located  in  Bluff- 
ton  in  1853,  was  appointed  prosecuting  attorney  in  1854  and  in  the 
fall  was  elected  over  John  W.  Dawson,  the  Whig  candidate.  After 
serving  his  term  of  six  years  as  judge  he  was  appointed  by  Presi- 
dent Johnson  as  bank  examiner.  Later  he  located  at  Madison  and 
finally  returned  to  Bluffton,  where  he  died. 

James  L.  Defreese,  of  Goshen,  was  elected  prosecutor  in  1858, 
but  died  in  a  few  months  and  John  Colerick  was  appointed  to  the  va- 
cancy. At  the  fall  election  in  that  year  Moses  Jenkinson  was  placed 
upon  the  ticket  and  elected,  but  the  governor  decided  that  Colerick's 
appointment  was  for  the  remainder  of  the  term  and  refused  to  com- 
mission Jenkinson,  and  Mr.  Colerick  held  the  office  until  after  the 
election  of  i860.  He  was  a  young  man  of  singularly  pure  character 
and  a  lawyer  of  great  ability. 

In  October,  i860,  Augustus  A.  Chapin,  of  Kendallville,  Noble 
county,  was  elected  prosecutor  and  served  until  1862.  He  was  after- 
wards judge  of  the  superior  court  and  later  referee  in  bankruptcy  for 
the  United  States  district  court.  James  H.  Schell,  of  Goshen,  Elk- 
hart county,  succeeded  him  in  1862,  and  was  twice  elected  after- 
wards. 

In  1864  Robert  Lowry,  of  Goshen,  Elkhart  county,  was  elected 
judge  of  the  circuit.  In  March,  1867,  the  legislature  reduced  the 
circuit  by  taking  from  it  six  counties  to  form  a  new  one,  leaving  the 
tenth  circuit  composed  of  Allen,  Adams,  Wells  and  Whitley.  In 
anticipation  of  this  event  Judge  Lowry  had  become  a  resident  of 


46  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

Fort  Wayne  and  so  remained  judge  of  the  circuit.  During-  his  in- 
cumbency of  the  bench  several  changes  were  made  in  the  circuit. 
Huntington  county  was  added  to  it  in  1869  an<^  taken  from  it  again 
in  1872. 

In  1873  the  state  was  redistricted  for  judicial  purposes  and  Allen 
and  Whitley  counties  were  formed  into  the  thirty-eighth  judicial 
circuit.  By  the  act  of  March  9,  1875,  Allen  county  alone  was  con- 
stituted the  thirty-eighth  judicial  circuit,  and  has  so  remained  to 
the  present  day.  Thomas  M.  Wilson,  of  Bluffton,  was  elected  pros- 
ecuting attorney  in  1866.  Joseph  S.  Dailey,  of  Bluffton,  in  1868, 
again  in  1870  and  1872.  Wilson  located  in  Fort  Wayne,  and  is  still 
practicing  law  there.  Dailey  served  as  judge  of  the  Wells  and 
Huntington  circuit  court  and  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  state,  his 
death  occurring  in  October,  1905.  Jacob  R.  Bittinger,  of  Fort 
Wayne,  was  elected  prosecuting  attorney  in  1873  and  held  the  posi- 
tion until  October,  1877.  In  1875  Judge  Lowry  resigned  to  enter 
upon  the  active  practice  of  the  law,  and  became  the  head  of  the  law 
firm  of  Lowry,  Robertson  &  O'Rourke,  composed  of  himself,  Robert 
S.  Robertson  and  Edward  O'Rourke.  Later  he  was  elected 
to  and  served  in  congress,  being  defeated  by  Hon.  James 
B.  White  for  the  second  term.  He  returned  to  the  prac- 
tice and  bravely  kept  to  the  front  until  he  died  in  1904, 
"full  of  years  and  honors."  On  Judge  Lowry's  resig- 
nation Hon.  William  W.  Carson  was  appointed  by  Governor  Hen- 
dricks to  fill  the  vacancy.  It  is  perhaps  proper  to  notice  the  cir- 
cumstances of  this  appointment.  The  bar,  with  one  exception,  had 
united  in  a  recommendation  to  the  governor  to  appoint  another  man 
to  the  position.  The  recommendation  was  for  a  Republican,  and 
was  signed  by  every  Democrat  at  the  bar,  save  one.  Governor  Hen- 
dricks appointed  that  one  to  the  bench.  Judge  Carson  was  a  good 
man,  but  with  some  human  failings.  He  was  not  a  good  lawyer  and 
did  not  shine  as  a  judge,  but  his  service  brought  his  good  qualities 
as  a  man  into  full  relief. 

At  the  general  election  of  1876  Hon.  Edward  O'Rourke,  junior 
member  of  the  firm  of  Lowry,  Robertson  &  O'Rourke,  above  re- 
ferred to,  was  elected  judge  of  the  circuit  and  by  re-election  in  1882, 
1888,  1894  and  1900,  has  held  the  bench  to  date,  serving  with 
honor  to  himself  and  to  the  people  who  have  so  repeatedly  elected 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  47 

him.  During"  his  incumbency  of  the  judicial  bench  James  F.  Morrison 
was  elected  in  1877,  and  again  in  1879,  but  resigned  in  1880  to  re- 
move to  Kokomo,  where  he  is  yet  in  the  practice  of  the  law ;  Charles 
M.  Dawson,  appointed  in  1880,  elected  same  year  and  again  nomi- 
nated and  elected  until  1887,  and  who  became  judge  of  the  superior 
court  and  died  in  office;  James  M.  Robinson,  elected  in  1886  and 
again  in  1889,  and  later  served  four  terms  as  a  member  of  congress 
from  the  twelfth  congressional  district;  Philemon  B.  Colerick,  who 
was  succeeded  by  Newton  B.  Doughman,  later  county  attorney  and 
now  (1905)  assistant  general  counsel  for  the  New  York,  St.  Louis 
&  Pacific  Railroad  (the  Nickel  Plate)  at  Cleveland,  Ohio;  E.  V. 
Emrick,  now  a  practicing  attorney  at  Fort  Wayne,  and  Ronald 
Dawson,  son  of  Judge  Dawson,  heretofore  mentioned,  now  in  office, 
have  been  the  prosecuting  attorneys  of  the  circuit.  No  mention  has 
been  made  thus  far  of  the  prosecuting  attorneys  of  the  criminal 
court  of  the  county,  that  being  a  court  of  extra  territorial  jurisdic- 
tion from  the  circuit  court. 

As  noted  heretofore,  the  seal  of  the  court,  as  reported  by  Charles 
W.  Ewing,  was  rejected.  It  would  be  worth  while  to  know  the 
reason,  but  the  record  is  silent  on  that  subject.  The  first  seal  known 
to  be  used  has  the  legend,  "Allen  County  Circuit  Court,  Indiana." 
This  was  declared  to  be  "erroneous,"  no  doubt  because  the  constitu- 
tion and  law  said  that  the  courts  should  be  known  as  " —  Circuit 
Court,"  with  the  name  of  the  county  prefixed,  and  so  on  the  5th  of 
September,  1887,  the  court  ordered  it  to  be  changed,  and  the  present 
seal  has  the  legend,  "Allen  Circuit  Court,  Indiana."  The  device  in 
the  center  is  a  figure  of  Justice  holding  a  sword  in  the  right  hand 
and  scales  in  the  left. 

PROBATE  COURTS. 

>  An  act  of  the  legislature  of  January  29,  1829,  provided  for  a  pro- 
bate court  in  each  county,  the  judge  of  which  was  to  be  elected  by 
the  people.  There  were  no  qualifications  prescribed  in  the  act,  but 
in  order  to  be  commissioned  by  the  governor  it  was  provided  that 
a  judge  of  the  circuit  court  or  supreme  court  must  certify  to  the 
fact  that  the  judge-elect  "was  qualified  to  discharge  the  duties  of  the 
office,  but  that  this  condition  should  not  be  construed  so  as  to  require 
any  applicant  to  be  a  professional  character." 


48  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

William  G.  Ewing  was  elected  probate  judge  in  1830  and  served 
three  years,  when  he  resigned.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  as  al- 
ready noted,  in  1824,  at  the  first  term  of  court  held  in  Allen  county, 
and  was  a  brother  of  Charles  W.  Ewing,  the  prosecuting  attorney. 
He  went  into  business  with  his  brother  and  was  too  much  engaged 
in  affairs  of  the  Indian  agency  and  tradership  of  that  day  to  give 
close  attention  to  the  law. 

In  1834  Hugh  McCulloch  became  probate  judge  and  served 
about  one  year,  when  he  resigned  to  become  cashier  and  manager  of 
the  Fort  Wayne  branch  of  the  State  Bank  of  Indiana,  organized  in 
Indianapolis  in  1834  and  in  Fort  Wayne  in  1835.  He  had  graduated 
at  Bowdoin  College  in  1826,  taught  school  and  graduated  in  law  in 
Boston  in  1832.  He  came  west  in  April,  1833,  spent  a  few  weeks  in 
the  office  of  Judge  Sullivan  (a  judge  of  the  supreme  court),  went 
from  there  to  Indianapolis  and  was  admitted  by  the  supreme  court 
to  practice  law.  He  came  from  Indianapolis  to  Fort  Wayne  and, 
believing  in  its  future,  decided  to  remain.  As  cashier  of  the  branch 
of  the  State  Bank,  president  of  the  State  Bank,  president  of  the 
banking  house  of  Allen  Hamilton  &  Company,  secretary  of  the 
United  States  treasury  under  Lincoln,  Johnson  and  Arthur,  his 
financial  fame  is  assured.  The  Allen  Hamilton  &  Company  Bank 
merged  later  into  the  Hamilton  National  Bank,  with  his  son,  Charles 
McCulloch,  as  president  and  his  grandson,  John  Ross  McCulloch,  as 
assistant  cashier. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  year  Governor  Noble  commissioned 
Thomas  Johnson  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  McCulloch's  resigna- 
tion and  he  held  the  office  until  after  the  election  of  1836.  After  he 
ceased  to  be  probate  judge  he  became  prosecuting  attorney  of  the 
circuit  court  and  died  in  1843  from  the  effects  of  a  cold  contracted 
while  riding  the  circuit. 

Lucian  P.  Ferry,  of  Fort  Wayne,  was  elected  probate  judge,  but 
resigned  in  1840  to  become  prosecuting  attorney  of  the  circuit 
court.  He  died  at  the  age  of  thirty-three.  One  of  his  sons  became 
governor  of  the  state  of  Washington  and  a  brother  was  United 
States  senator  from  Michigan. 

Reuben  J.  Dawson  was  appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy  and  held  the 
position  until  after  the  fall  election  of  1840,  when  Samuel  Stophlet 
was  elected  and  served  until   1844,  when  he  resigned.     Governor 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  49 

Whitcomb  appointed  George  Johnson  to  fill  the  vacancy,  and  he  was 
elected  at  the  fall  election  in  that  year,  and  held  the  office  until  1847, 
when  he  resigned,  to  go  through  a  course  of  theological  lectures, 
but  in  December,  1850,  he  was  killed  by  the  accidental  discharge  of 
a  gun. 

Nelson  McLain  was  elected  in  1847,  an<^  served  until  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  common  pleas  court  in  1852,  to  which  all  probate 
business  was  transferred,  and  the  probate  court  was  abolished.  This 
change  became  necessary  from  the  adoption  of  the  new  constitution 
and  although  it  has  been  of  doubtful  expediency,  it  has  been  half  a 
century  or  more  without  the  system  being  re-established, 

COURT  OF  COMMON   PLEAS.      • 

By  an  act  of  the  legislature  of  May  14,  1852,  courts  of  common 
pleas  were  created  with  full  probate  and  limited  civil  jurisdiction. 
The  counties  of  Allen,  Adams,  Huntington  and  Wells  formed  a 
common  pleas  district,  and  a  judge  was  to  be  elected  in  October, 
with  a  four-year  tenure  of  office.  Hon.  James  W.  Borden,  already 
mentioned  in  connection  with  the  circuit  court,  was  elected  and 
opened  the  court  in  Allen  county  January  3,  1853.  He  was  re- 
elected in  1856  and  served  until  1857,  when  he  resigned.  Hon.  Jo- 
seph Brackenridge  was  appointed  by  the  governor  to  fill  the  va- 
cancy and  was  elected  in  1858,  and  again  in  i860,  holding  the  office 
until  1864.  He  was  a  man  of  strong  character,  a  clear  mind  and 
good  heart.  He  was  noted  for  the  strong  sense  of  humor  which 
pervaded  his  social  and  official  life,  and  until  his  death,  at  a  ripe  age, 
full  of  honors,  he  was  almost  universally  known  as  "Joe."  For 
years  he  was  attorney  for  the  Pittsburg,  Fort  Wayne  &  Chicago 
Railroad  and  died  while  in  that  work. 

-  In  1864  Judge  Borden  was  again  elected,  but  was  absent  and 
failed  to  qualify  for  the  office  for  several  months.  His  name  had 
been  connected  in  some  way  with  Milligan  and  others,  who  were 
apprehended  by  the  military  authorities  of  the  United  States  on  a 
charge  of  treason  in  connection  with  the  secret  organization  known 
as  the  "Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle,"  and  it  was  generally  believed 
that  his  absence  was  prolonged  by  reason  of  those  arrests.  He  had 
been  United  States  envoy  to  the  Sandwich  Islands  under  President 

4 


50  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

Buchanan  and  was  a  man  of  much  ability,  except  in  the  law.  His 
personality  was  a  strong  one  and  he  was  a  delightful  conversational- 
ist, with  much  historical  knowledge  to  draw  upon.  He  resigned  Oc- 
tober 29,  1867,  and  Robert  S.  Taylor  was  appointed  by  Governor 
Conrad  Baker  to  fill  the  vacancy. 

At  the  October  election,  1868,  Hon.  David  Studebaker,  of  De- 
catur, was  elected  and  held  the  bench  until  in  1870,  when  he  re- 
signed. He  was  actively  engaged  there  in  banking  and  business  en- 
terprises of  magnitude  until  his  death  in  1904.  Hon.  William  W. 
Carson,  mentioned  heretofore  as  presiding  on  the  circuit  bench,  was 
elected  to  the  vacancy  and  filled  out  the  unexpired  term  until  1872. 

At  the  October  election  in  that  year  Hon.  Samuel  E.  Sinclair 
was  elected  and  held  the  position  until  the  court  was  abolished  and 
its  business  transferred  to  the  circuit  court  in  March,  1873.  He 
was  a  native  of  Fort  Wayne  and  without  having  lived  to  demon- 
strate greatness  in  the  practice  of  the  law,  he  was  esteemed  by  his 
associates  at  the  bar  for  his  many  sterling  qualities.  He  was  repre- 
senting this  legislative  district  in  the  general  assembly  when  he  was 
stricken  by  the  disease  which  ended  his  career  in  1887. 

David  Studebaker,  who  later  became  judge  of  the  court,  was  the 
first  prosecuting  attorney,  serving  two  years,  and  was  succeeded  by 
Joseph  Brackenridge  in  1854,  serving  two  years.  He  also  became 
judge  of  the  court  later.  In  1856  W.  B.  Spencer  was  elected  and 
served  one  year. 

At  the  election  in  1867  William  S.  Smith  was  elected  to  the 
office  to  fill  the  vacancy  and  served  one  year.  He  was  city  attorney 
of  Fort  Wayne  in  1861  and  was  appointed  enrolling  and  draft  com- 
missioner for  the  war.  He  commenced  life  as  a  gunsmith  and 
studied  law  while  engaged  in  that  work.  He  was  a  man  of  consid- 
erable ability  and  quite  an  eccentric  character,  a  formidable  opponent 
in  the  legal  forum.  John  Colerick  was  elected  in  1858  and  served 
two  years,  resigning  to  accept  a  commission  as  prosecuting  attorney 
for  the  circuit  court,  tendered  him  by  Governor  Willard.  He  died 
in  1872.  Joseph  S.  France  was  appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy,  and  in 
i860  D.  T.  Smith,  of  Bluffton,  was  elected  and  served  for  two 
years.  In  1862  David  Colerick,  a  brother  of  John  Colerick,  was 
elected  prosecuting  attorney,  re-elected  in  1864  and  served  until 
t866.     He  died  in  1872,  a  young  man  of  great  promise.     In  1866 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  51 

Joseph  S.  Dailey,  of  Bluffton,  was  elected,  holding  the  office  for  two 
years.  He  has  since  been  judge  of  the  Wells  circuit  and  of  the  su- 
preme court  of  the  state.  Benjamin  F.  Ibach,  of  Huntington,  was 
elected  in  1868  and  re-elected  in  1870.  He  was  later  city  attorney 
of  Huntington,  a  member  of  the  legislature  and  manager  of  the 
Knightstown  Soldiers'  Orphans'  Home.  Jacob  R.  Bittinger  was 
elected  in  1872  and  served  until  the  court  was  abolished  in  1873. 

As  a  court  of  limited  civil  jurisdiction  it  served  its  purpose  in 
the  times  for  which  it  was  created,  and  was  useful  in  relieving  the 
circuit  court  from  a  burden  of  business  for  which  its  machinery  was 
inadequate,  but  it  failed  to  become  popular  and  so  takes  its  place 
in  history  as  an  experiment,  among  such  other  courts  as  may  be 
provided  by  law. 

The  seal  of  the  court  was  a  sheaf  of  wheat,  canal  and  canal  boat, 
with  the  legend,  "Common  Pleas,  Allen  County." 

THE  ALLEN  CRIMINAL  CIRCUIT  COURT. 

The  criminal  court  was  established  in  1867,  with  sole  criminal 
jurisdiction,  and  Hon.  James  A.  Fay  became  judge  by  appointment. 
One  of  the  first  orders  by  Judge  Fay  fixed  a  seal  as  follows :  The 
legend,  "The  Allen  Criminal  Circuit  Court,"  around  the  border,  with 
the  word  "Sigillum"  at  the  bottom.  Underneath  the  border  above 
the  design  the  motto,  "Lex  Suprema  Est."  Device,  the  near  front 
view  represented  the  judge's  desk  with  an  open  book,  signifying  the 
equal  right  of  all  in  the  law ;  a  naked  sword  leaning  against  the  desk, 
emblematic  of  the  penalty  that  goes  with  the  law  to  enforce  its  com- 
mands. In  the  rear  is  seen  on  the  left  a  field  of  grain  and  men  har- 
vesting; on  the  right,  rising  grounds,  and  beyond  open  country,  in- 
dicating the  security  of  industry,  and  its  rewards  under  the  main- 
tenance of  the  law.  We  can  find  no  order  changing  this  seal,  but 
one  was  used  in  1884,  smaller  than  the  old,  and  with  the  device 
changed  to  a  man  sitting  at  the  judge's  desk,  with  all  else  omitted. 

As  stated,  Hon.  James  W.  Borden,  who  had  been  judge  of  the 
circuit  and  of  the  common  pleas  courts,  was  elected  in  1867,  and 
resigned  from  the  common  pleas  to  accept  it.  In  1870  Hon.  Joseph 
Brackenridge,  mentioned  as  judge  of  the  common  pleas,  was  elected 
to  the  office  and  held  it  until  1875.    Judge  Borden  had  been  elected 


52  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

in  1874  and  was  re-elected  in  1878,  dying  in  office  April  26,  1882. 
Hon.  Warren  H.  Withers,  a  prominent  member  of  the  bar,  was  ap- 
pointed judge  by  Governor  Albert  G.  Porter  to  fill  the  vacancy 
caused  by  the  death  of  Judge  Borden,  and  served  until  the  fall  elec- 
tion of  1882.  Samuel  M.  Hench  was  then  elected  judge  and  served 
until  the  court  was  abolished  by  act  of  the  legislature  passed  Febru- 
ary 27,  1883,  to  take  effect  October  31,  1884.  Judge  Hench  was 
formerly  prosecutor  and  later  held  a  position  as  auditor  of  the  treas- 
ury under  President  Cleveland. 

When  the  criminal  court  was  organized  Robert  S.  Taylor  was 
appointed  prosecuting  attorney.  At  the  October  election  in  1867, 
Edward  O'Rourke  was  elected,  and  held  until  1870,  when  he  was 
re-elected  and  served  until  1872,  when  Joseph  S.  France  was  elected 
his  successor.  He  died  in  July,  1874,  and  Samuel  M.  Hench  was 
appointed  to  the  vacancy,  was  elected  in  the  fall,  and  re-elected  in 
1876  and  1878,  serving  until  January,  1881.  At  the  October  elec- 
tion, 1880,  William  S.  O'Rourke  was  elected  to  the  office,  and  served 
until  the  court  ended  under  the  act  referred  to. 

The  business  of  the  criminal  circuit  court  was  transferred  to  the 
circuit  court,  which  still  holds  exclusive  criminal  jurisdiction. 

THE  ALLEN  SUPERIOR  COURT. 

The  superior  court  was  established  in  1877,  with  nearly  equal 
civil  jurisdiction  with  the  circuit  court,  but  without  criminal  or  pro- 
bate powers.  Hon.  Allen  Zollars  became  judge  by  appointment 
from  Governor  Williams  and  held  the  first  term,  but  resigned  and 
Hon.  Robert  Lowry  was  appointed  in  the  same  year,  elected  at  the 
next  election  in  1878,  and  served  till  his  election  to  congress  in 
1882.  Hon.  James  L.  Worden,  judge  of  the  supreme  court,  re- 
signed and  became  judge  in  1882,  serving  till  his  death,  June  2, 
1884,  when  Hon.  Lindley  M.  Ninde  was  appointed.  Hon.  Samuel 
M.  Hench  was  elected  in  that  year  and  served  until  1886,  when  Hon. 
Augustus  A.  Chapin  succeeded  him,  serving  four  years.  Hon. 
Charles  M.  Dawson  was  elected  in  1890.  He  died  October  4,  1899, 
and  William  J.  Vesey  was  appointed  by  the  governor  to  fill  the  va- 
cancy, serving  nearly  three  years.  At  the  November  election,  1902. 
Owen  N.  Heaton  was  elected  judge  and  is  still  ( 1905)  serving  his 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  53 

term.  The  seal  has  in  the  border  "Superior  Court  of  Allen  County, 
Indiana."  The  centre  has  an  eagle,  holding  the  arrows  and  olive 
branch,  with  thirteen  stars  above. 

BOARD  OF  COMMISSIONERS. 

The  first  board  of  commissioners  consisted  of  William  Rockhill, 
James  Wyman  and  Francis  Comparet.  They  met  at  the  house 
of  Alexander  Ewing  May  26,  1824. 

Allen  county  was  made  a  township  called  Wayne.  It  might  be 
interesting  to  trace  the  foundation  of  the  twenty  townships  this  one 
original  township  was  divided  into,  but  space  forbids.  There  was  a 
Riley  township  in  1830,  changed  to  Orange  in  1831,  and  now 
disappeared.  There  was  also  a  Clinton  township  formed 
in  1834,  which  also  disappeared.  There  was  a  Murray 
township  in  1831,  but  it  was  the  attached  territory  lying 
west  of  Allen  county.  Mongoquining  township  was  formed 
the  same  year,  but  was  all  the  attached  territory  lying 
north  of  Allen  county.  Wells  and  DeKalb  townships,  formed  in 
1836,  were  attached  territory  lying  south  and  north,  created  town- 
ships for  election  purposes.  It  was  all  done  without  authority  of 
law,  so  far  as  the  writer  has  discovered. 

The  first  board  appointed  John  Tipton  county  agent  and  ordered 
him  to  sell  part  of  the  lots  donated  by  Barr  and  McCorkle.  The 
thirty-six  lots  sold  brought  six  hundred  ninety  dollars  and  fifty 
cents,  an  average  of  a  little  less  than  twenty  dollars  per  lot.  The  jail 
was  in  process  of  erection  in  1826,  probably  the  one  which  stood  at 
the  southwest  corner  of  the  square. 

In  that  year  the  board  of  commissioners  was  superseded  by  a 
board  of  three  justices  of  the  peace,  called  "the  board  of  county  jus- 
tices," but  in  1829  the  law  providing  for  them  was  repealed  and  the 
board  of  commissioners,  much  as  now  existing,  was  again  organ- 
ized. 

Although  the  board  of  commissioners  was  a  court  of  record,  as 
well  as  the  business  agent  of  the  people,  it  seems  not  to  have  had  a 
seal  until  1841,  and,  curiously  enough,  on  September  9th  of  that 
year  the  board  ordered  that  the  seal  should  be  the  device,  "Brittania 
seated  on  a  shield  and  grasping  the  Trident  of  Neptune,"  with  the 


54  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

words,  "Brittania  Rex.  Fid.  Def.,"  to  be  used  until  such  time  as 
another  seal  could  be  procured.  At  the  same  session  one  was  or- 
dered to  be  procured.  Device,  "A  sheaf  of  wheat  in  an  upright  po- 
sition, with  a  sickle  sticking  therein,  and  in  the  background  a  field 
of  corn  with  a  reaper  at  work,  and  in  a  circle  surrounding  said  de- 
vice the  following  words,  'Commissioners  of  Allen  County,  la. 
seal.'  The  word  seal  to  be  in  'M.  and  the  sheaf  of  wheat'  "  We  can 
but  wonder  whether  a  seal  left  from  the  British  occupation  had  been 
found,  and  thus  utilized  for  temporary  purposes,  for  such  a  lapse 
towards  royalty  in  the  backwoods  of  the  American  republic  is  a  no- 
ticeable and  anomalous  affair. 

Notwithstanding  the  law  required  it  to  commence  the  erection 
of  public  buildings  within  twelve  months,  we  find  no  steps  recorded 
as  being  taken  to  that  end  until  1831.  At  the  May  session,  on  the 
7th,  it  was  decided  to  build  a  court  house,  and  plans  were  agreed 
upon.  It  was  to  be  of  brick,  with  stone  foundations  twenty  inches 
in  thickness,  and  the  walls  eighteen  inches  above  ground  forty  feet 
square,  and  advertisement  for  bids  was  ordered.  On  August  9th 
of  that  year  the  county  agent  was  ordered  to  let  a  contract  to  the 
lowest  bidder,  "to  cut  the  brush  and  stumps  off  the  public  square," 
but  at  the  same  time  the  board  leased  to  James  Wilcox  for  four 
years,  if  desired,  thirty  by  fifty  feet  at  the  corner  of  Main  and  Cal- 
houn streets  for  ten  dollars  per  annum,  a  similar  piece  at  the  corner 
of  Main  and  Court  for  eight  dollars  and  the  corner  of  Court  and 
Berry  for  six  dollars.  In  1834  David  H.  Colerick  got  a  lease  for 
eight  years  of  twenty-five  by  forty  feet  at  the  northwest  corner, 
fronting  on  Main  street,  for  ten  dollars  per  annum.  At  the  fall  ses- 
sion the  contract  was  let  for  $3,321.75.  Citizens  subscribed  $499 
in  work  and  materials,  and  $149  cash.  The  remainder  was  paid  out 
of  the  treasury.  Court  met  in  the  unfinished  building  May  7,  1832. 
A  visitor  here  in  1838  wrote  in  1858  of  it,  "Coming  from  the  south, 
we  beheld  the  steeple  of  the  old  brick  court  house,  which  stood  on 
the  spot  where  now  is  dug  the  foundation  of  a  new  and  spacious  one 
on  the  public  square." 

This  building  evidently  failed  to  meet  the  necessities  of  the 
times,  for  in  January,  1840,  the  commissioners  appointed  a  com- 
mittee of  citizens  to  inspect  the  court  house  and  report  whether  the 
building  was  worth  repairing;  the  cost  of  repairs  as  per  a  proposal 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  55 

of  Colonel  Spencer,  and  whether  the  proposed  repairs  were  suitable 
to  repair  the  building.  The  report  could  not  be  found,  but  plans 
were  advertised  for,  and  September  9,  1841,  an  allowance  was  made 
to  A.  Miller  for  the  best  draft  of  a  plan  for  a  court  house  to  cost  not 
more  than  fifteen  thousand  dollars,  and  the  county  agent  was  au- 
thorized to  sell  the  old  one  and  have  it  removed.  At  the  December 
session  the  board  gave  Colonel  Spencer  three  hundred  dollars  and 
the  building  "for  his  buildings  on  the  public  square."  At  the  same 
time  a  building  was  ordered  erected  on  the  northeast  corner  for  the 
auditor's  and  treasurer's  office.  The  clerk's  office  was  on  the  north- 
west corner,  and  the  recorder's  office  on  the  southwest  corner, 
where  the  log  jail  once  stood. 

The  new  court  house  was  not  completed  and  occupied  until  1847, 
and  was  a  two-story  brick,  with  a  steeple.  Samuel  Edsall  was  the 
contractor.  In  the  meantime,  the  old  Presbyterian  church,  east  of 
Barr,  on  Berry,  was  used  for  a  time,  and  the  county  gave  the  church 
a  lot  as  rent  for  the  old  structure.  Then  a  temporary  court  house 
was  built  on  the  southeast  corner  of  the  square.  It  was  a  frame, 
with  a  court  room  and  two  small  rooms  for  jury  rooms.  In  1853 
a  new  clerk's  office  was  built  on  the  northwest  corner.  This  court- 
house also  proved  inadequate,  and  June  11,  1858,  a  levy  was  or- 
dered of  fifteen  cents  on  the  one  hundred  dollars  for  a  fund  to  build 
a  new  court  house,  one,  in  the  language  of  the  newspapers  of  the 
day,  which  "should  last  for  a  century,  at  least."  The  following 
year  this  levy  was  increased  to  twenty  cents,  and  plans  were  called 
for.  June  21,  1859,  the  board  examined  those  submitted,  but  ac- 
cepted none,  and  advertised  for  further  plans.  On  the  12th  of 
August,  in  special  session,  the  plan  of  Edwin  May,  an  Indianapolis 
architect,  was  approved,  and  January  12,  i860,  the  contract  was  let 
to  Samuel  Edsall  &  Company,  consisting  of  Edsall,  Virgil  M.  Kim- 
ball, Ochmig  Bird  and  Louis  Wolke,  for  sixty-three  thousand  six 
hundred  and  thirteen  dollars.  For  extras,  additions  were  made 
till  they  received  seventy-four  thousand  two  hundred  and  seventy- 
one  dollars,  and  the  total  cost  was  seventy-eight  thousand  dollars. 
It  was  accepted  by  the  board  of  commissioners  July  23,  1862.  The 
corner-stone  had  been  laid  with  Masonic  ceremonies  May  I,  1861, 
Sol.  D.  Bayless,  past  grand  master,  officiating. 

The  century  intended  for  its  duration  was  just  one-third  gone, 


56  THE    MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

when  it  was  declared  "insufficient,"  and  the  board  of  commission- 
ers advertised  for  plans  for  the  present  structure.  This  was  in 
1895.  But  it  was  two  years  before  satisfactory  plans  were  pre- 
sented and  adopted.  The  contract  was  let  May  15,  1897,  and  the 
work  of  demolition  of  the  old,  and  building*  of  the  new,  was  at  once 
begun.  Meantime,  the  courts  were  held  in  the  Sangerbund  build- 
ing, corner  of  Main  street  and  Maiden  Lane,  until  September,  1900, 
when  the  circuit  court  was  held  in  the  unfinished  structure.  Its 
cost  was  eight  hundred  and  seventeen  thousand  five  hundred  and 
fifty-three  dollars  and  fifty-nine  cents.  For  that  sum  we  have  per- 
haps the  finest  architectural,  and  certainly  the  most  beautifully  ar- 
tistic court  house  in  all  the  land.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  this  ma- 
jestic temple  of  justice  is  the  product  of  the  brain  of  an  architect 
reared  and  educated  among  us;  that  every  detail  of  use  and  orna- 
ment, every  decoration  inside  and  out,  except  the  mural  paintings, 
were  conceived,  modeled,  cast  or  sculptured,  and  carried  to  a  finish, 
within  the  limits  of  the  court  house  square,  and  most  of  it  within  the 
court  house  walls,  while  building. 

Is  there  anywhere  a  doubt  whether  it  pays  for  its  cost  ?  Let  the 
questioner  stand  in  the  beautiful  rotunda,  and  watch  the  daily  pro- 
cession of  our  people  passing*  through  it — listen  to  their  questioning, 
admiring  and  approving — to  their  praise  and  their  criticism.  It 
comes  from  rich  and  poor,  old  age  and  childhood,  the  educated  and 
the  ignorant.  Their  answer  is  composite  and  complete.  It  says 
that  in  the  upbuilding  of  the  masses,  the  uplifting  of  all  of  us  to 
higher  thoughts  and  ideals,  it  does  pay.  Already  the  education  in 
better  things  is  marvelous,  and  all  caviling  and  criticism  as  to  cost 
has  vanished  from  all  minds.  We  owe  more  than  we  can  at  present 
realize  to  the  wisdom,  sagacity  and  daring  of  the  board  of  com- 
missioners which  decided  to  erect  it,  and  carried  it  to  completion 
against  a  storm  of  suspicion  and  denunciation.  We  owe  as  much 
to  the  architect  who  planned  it  with  such  consummate  skill,  taste 
and  judgment.  The  names  of  all  are  upon  the  commemorative 
tablet  which  passes  them  on  to  posterity,  and  it  might  seem  invidi- 
ous to  single  out  one  name  from  the  others,  but  the  people  will  class 
Brentwood  J.  Tolan  as  a  "master  architect"  and  Matthew  A.  Fer- 
guson as  a  "master  builder." 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  57 

It  reads  strangely  today  to  see  in  the  records  of  1832  an  order 
to  have  the  brush  and  stumps  cleared  off  the  public  square,  and  in 
1843  an  order  to  have  the  buildings  and  stable  used  by  the  sheriff 
removed,  but  in  that  period  there  had  been  a  comparatively  rapid 
growth.  By  the  census  of  1800  the  vast  county  of  Knox  had  only 
2,517  inhabitants.  In  1810  it  had  increased  to  7,945.  Randolph, 
our  new  county,  in  1820,  had  a  population  of  only  1,808.  Allen, 
in  1830,  had  996;  in  1840,  5,942;  in  1850,  16,919;  in  1860,  the 
era  of  our  demolished  court  house,  29,328.  The  population  in 
thirty  years  had  increased  thirty-fold. 

The  state  began  early  to  encourage  internal  improvements,  and 
the  general  government  was  not  backward  in  promoting  such  en- 
terprises, and  by  act  of  March  2,  1827,  granted  to  the  state  every 
alternative  section  for  five  miles  on  either  side,  to  construct  a  canal 
from  the  head  of  navigation  on  the  Maumee  to  the  head  of  naviga- 
tion on  the  Wabash.  The  commissioners  appointed  for  the  purpose 
designated  the  route  to  be  "from  the  foot  of  Maumee  rapids  to  the 
mouth  of  Tippecanoe  river,"  and  a  board  of  canal  commissioners 
was  created,  which  met  at  Indianapolis  July  14,  1828,  and  in  1832 
the  canal  land  office  was  opened  at  Port  Wayne.  Ground  was 
broken  with  imposing  ceremonies  one  and  one-half  miles  west  of 
the  town,  on  the  22d  of  February,  1832.  This  was  very  appropri- 
ate, for  Washington  was  one  of  the  first,  if  not  the  first,  to  suggest 
a  canal  to  connect  these  two  water  systems.  The  procession  formed 
at  John's  hotel  at  1  o'clock  and  marched  to  the  point  designated, 
where  the  gifted  orator,  Charles  W.  Ewing,  "delivered  an  appro- 
priate address." 

The  canal  was  opened  to  Huntington  July  4,  1835,  Logansport  in 
1837,  Lafayette  in  1841,  and  Toledo  in  1843.  The  event  was  cele- 
brated in  Fort  Wayne  with  a  great  procession,  a  barbecue,  and  an 
address  by  United  States  Senator  Lewis  Cass.  Thus  was  this  great 
water  highway  opened  to  the  inflowing  tide  of  immigration  and  in- 
ternal commerce,  and  it  was  a  potent  factor  in  the  progress  of  Allen 
county  and  Fort  Wayne,  which  became  an  incorporated  town  on 
the  22d  of  February,   1840. 

The  fort  reservation  had  only  been  abandoned  ten  years.  It  was 
in  1830  that  an  act  of  congress  authorized  our  county  judges  to 
enter  twenty  acres  off  the  west  side  of  the  reserve  at  one  dollar  and 


58  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

twenty-five  cents  per  acre.  They  platted  it  as  the  "County  Addi- 
tion," November  3,  1830.  The  remainder  of  the  reserve  was  pur- 
chased by  Cyrus  Taber,  and  in  1835  was  ^a^  °^  as  "Taber  s  Ad- 
dition." 

There  was  no  newspaper  here  until  1833.  The  first  issue  of  the 
Fort  Wayne  Sentinel  appeared  July  6th  of  that  year.  Noel  and 
Tigar  were  the  proprietors.  It  appeared  irregularly  until  1837, 
when  George  W.  Wood  purchased  it  and  made  it  a  Whig  paper. 
He  sold  it  in  1840  to  Isaac  DeGroff  Nelson,  who  made  it  a  Demo- 
cratic paper,  and  Wood  started  the  Times.  It  was  not  till  July  16, 
1854,  that  a  daily  appeared,  Wood's  Daily  Times. 

That  year  was  the  beginning  of  the  railroad  era,  as  well  as  of 
plank  roads.  In  1854  the  Ohio  &  Indiana  Railroad  was  opened  from 
Crestline  to  Fort  Wayne,  and  soon  after  the  Fort  Wayne  &  Chi- 
cago Railroad  gave  us  a  market  in  Chicago.  Soon  after  came  the 
Toledo,  Wabash  &  Western,  and  in  1869  the  Fort  Wayne,  Muncie  & 
Cincinnati  and  the  Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana.  The  Fort  Wayne,  Jack- 
son &  Saginaw  came  in  1870,  and  was  soon  followed  by  the  Cin- 
cinnati, Richmond  &  Fort  Wayne. 

The  pioneer  period  was  past.  The  period  of  civilization  in  its 
brightest  and  best  form — American  civilization — was  dawning. 
The  writer  came  to  the  bar  of  this  county  when  the  old  court  house 
the  present  building  replaces  was  new.  Of  the  thirty  and  more 
names  preceding  his  on  the  roll,  but  one  is  living  now,  if  we  except 
those  admitted  at  the  same  term  of  court.  That  bar  roll  was  a  roll 
of  honor.  One  could  well  feel  proud  in  being  enrolled  among  the 
men  who  at  that  time  composed  the  Allen  county  bar,  a  bar  which 
has  been  graced  by  such  names  as  that  of  the  Colericks,  father  and 
six  sons,  one  of  whom  has  been  one  of  the  supreme  court  commis- 
sioners ;  Allen  Hamilton,  father  of  the  bank  which  bears  his  name ; 
Hugh  McCulloch,  father  of  the  banking  interests  of  Fort  Wayne; 
Robert  Brackenridge,  and  Joseph  Brackenridge,  the  latter  judge 
of  two  of  the  courts;  William  H.  Coombs,  renowned  as  a  special 
pleader  under  the  old  regime,  and  by  appointment,  for  a  short  time, 
judge  of  the  supreme  court;  Lindley  M.  Ninde,  judge  of  the 
superior  court,  and  three  sons  following  in  his  footsteps;  John 
Morris,  judge  of  common  pleas  and  commissioner  of  the 
supreme  court,  and  two  sons  following  in  his  footsteps;  Robert 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  59 

S.  Taylor,  known  nationally  as  an  expert  in  electric  legal  affairs; 
William  H.  H.  Miller,  attorney-general  of  the  United  States  under 
President  Harrison;  James  L.  Worden,  judge  of  all  our  local  courts, 
and  for  many  years  adorning  the  supreme  court  bench;  Allen  Zol- 
lars  and  Walter  Olds,  both  of  whom  were  elevated  to  the  supreme 
court  bench;  Robert  C.  Bell,  not  a  judge,  but  a  brilliant,  forceful 
lawyer,  who  died  in  early  manhood,  and  many  others,  who,  while 
not  so  widely  known,  or  perhaps  not  so  much  favored  by  the  fickle 
winds  of  fortune,  but  with  ability  and  strength  of  character,  could 
not  help  being  a  powerful  force  in  the  body  politic,  and  its  roll  was 
surely  one  of  honor. 

There  were  giants  in  those  days,  mentally,  and  by  a  course  of 
legal  training,  under  a  system  which  compelled  men  to  think  for 
themselves,  to  think  and  act  quickly  upon  their  own  ideas,  based 
upon  a  knowledge  of  the  basic  principles  of  law  and  equity,  without 
the  aid  of  the  multifarious  "tools"  of  the  profession  of  the  present 
day.  There  were  no  large  law  libraries  then,  such  as  are  found  at 
every  county  seat  today,  where  for  almost  every  question  we  may 
now  find,  "Thus  saith  the  law."  At  that  day  the  bench  and  bar 
were  strong  in  pleading,  strong  in  argument,  and  among  them  there 
was  a  spirit  of  courtesy,  and  of  all  that  goes  to  make  what  always 
should  go  together — the  lawyer  and  the  gentleman.  This  spirit 
built  up  a  code  of  ethics  for  our  bar  which  has  rarely  been  violated, 
and  then  only  by  the  pariahs  of  the  profession. 

When  that  old  court  house  was  new,  Allen  county  was  just 
emerging  from  the  log-cabin  period — just  seeing  the  light  beyond 
the  forests  which  covered  it  as  with  a  mantle.  The  roads  were  so 
named  by  courtesy.  Where  they  were,  they  were  bad.  Where 
they  were  not,  one  could  travel  with  greater  ease  were  it  not  for  the 
fences.  There  were  few  bridges.  An  iron  bridge  was  unknown. 
But  it  had  a  people,  a  composite  population  drawn  from  nearly 
every  civilized  portion  of  the  earth,  by  whose  welding  together 
hearts  of  steel  were  formed — a  people  resolute,  sturdy,  honest,  self- 
respecting  and  demanding  respect  from  others — God-fearing,  toil- 
ing and  hopeful,  the  brave  pioneer  stock  and  descendants  of  pio- 
neers, who  have  made  this  wilderness  of  i860  "blossom  as  the  rose." 


6o  THE   MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 


CHAPTER  II 


PIONEER  DAYS  AND  WAYS. 


BY  MRS.  LAURA  G.  DETZER. 


Even  the  Indian  traditions  tell  of  Kekionga  as  a  social  center. 
The  wandering  tribes  would  meet  at  this  ancient  village  for  the 
green  corn  dance  and  for  the  fish  and  hunting  dances.  Men  and 
women  still  live  who  have  watched  these  savage  frolics.  Some- 
times the  Indian  would  be  clad  in  his  "naked  nothingness,"  but 
often  he  wore  "robes  of  fur  and  belts  of  wampum"  and  had  white 
scalps  to  fringe  his  hunting  shirt. 

Yet  the  Indian  is  not  a  more  picturesque  figure  than  the  early 
fur  trader.  Under  the  name  of  wood  ranger,  coureur  du  bois,  or 
voyageur,  he  has  become  a  bit  of  stage  property  for  the  novelist 
and  playwright.  To  give  local  color,  and  as  a  foil  to  the  devoted 
early  Jesuit,  this  conventional  swash-buckler  swaggers  through 
many  an  Indian  tale.  Only  traditional  accounts  remain  of  his  mode 
of  life  around  the  old  post,  but  very  likely  it  was  that  of  a  wood 
ranger  anywhere.  As  he  was  frequently  an  outlaw  from  the  older 
settlements  he  realized  more  fully  than  his  Indian  companions  all 
it  meant  to  be  free  of  law  and  taxes.  Choosing  a  likely  young 
squawT,  he  would  settle  down  to  a  life  alternating  between  hardship 
and  dissolute  ease.  Here  was  a  natural  vantage  point  for  the 
hunter  and  trapper.  Forest  and  stream  furnished  all  the  needs  of 
Indian  or  wood  ranger.     A  national  road,  pike  or  corduroy,  would 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA,  61 

have  meant  less  to  him  than  his  three  rivers  as  a  passage-way.  And 
the  portage,  which  might  have  seemed  a  hindrance  to  his  prosperity, 
was  made  a  toll  road  for  his  profit. 

Volney,  during  his  travels  in  America  in  1796,  was  very  curi- 
ous as  to  Indian  manners  and  customs.  When  he  asked  about  those 
French  Canadians  who  had  settled  by  the  waterways,  he  was  told 
they  were  a  kind,  hospitable,  sociable  sort  of  fellows.  "But  in  ig- 
norance and  idleness  they  beat  the  Indians.  They  knew  nothing  of 
civil  or  domestic  affairs;  their  women  neither  sew  nor  spin,  or 
make  butter,  but  pass  their  time  in  gossiping  and  tattle.  The  men 
hunt,  fish,  roam  in  the  woods,  bask  in  the  sun.  They  do>  not  lay  up 
as  we  do  for  winter  or  provide  for  a  rainy  day.  They  can't  cure 
pork  or  venison,  make  sauer  kraut  or  spruce  beer." 

But  this  Arcadian  existence  was  interrupted  by  the  arrival  of 
the  new  settlers,  who  as  a  matter  of  natural  selection  were  ener- 
getic, restless,  courageous  men  and  women.  There  must  have  been 
great  beauty  of  river  and  forest  surrounding  this  wilder- 
ness fort.  The  letter  written  by  Lieutenant  Curtis  to  Mr.  Cullen, 
October  4,  1812,  says,  "I  was  on  my  arrival,  and  still  continue  to  be, 
highly  delighted  with  the  place  and  my  situation."  Other  descrip- 
tions tell  of  the  wonderful  verdure,  thick  blue  grass,  the  luxuriance 
of  the  wooded  shores,  and  the  magnificence  of  the  forests.  These 
abundant  woods  and  full  streams,  with  no  exacting  game  laws, 
were  a  paradise  for  fisherman  and  hunter.  Even  at  a  much  later 
date  hunting  was  a  royal  sport  in  this  vicinity.  Men  are  living  who 
have  seen  deer  bounding  where  the  Pennsylvania  Company's  shops 
now  are. 

THE   OLD   FORT. 

From  written  letters  and  from  oral  tradition  we  know  of  the 
famous  hospitality  of  old  Fort  Wayne.  The  officers  of  the  fort  and 
their  wives  were  the  first  entertainers.  Coming  from  an  older  and 
more  formal  society,  they  carried  into  their  rude  barracks  the  man- 
ners and  customs  of  cultivated  folk.  A  certain  punctilio  was  the 
natural  consequence  of  their  military  life.  Captain  Hamtramck, 
the  first  commander  of  the  new  fort,  had  led  the  life  of  a  soldier 
from  his  boyhood.  As  one  line  on  his  tombstone  reads, 
He  was  a  soldier  even  before  he  was  a  man. 


62  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

Some  facts  have  to  be  seen  in  retrospect  to  realize  their  signifi- 
cance. In  1800,  while  Captain  Whistler  was  one  of  the  officers  of 
the  fort,  his  son,  George  Washington  Whistler,  was  born  here. 
And  the  son  of  this  George  Washington  Whistler — the  famous  en- 
gineer— was  James  McNeil  Whistler,  an  artistic  genius  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  And  so  through  one  of  his  fifteen  children  the 
name  of  this  brave  old  soldier,  Capt.  John  Whistler,  is  kept  in  the 
memory  of  a  forgetful  generation.  Whistler  and  Haden  etchings 
are  among  the  choicest  possessions  in  houses  standing  on  the  site 
of  the  old  block  houses  and  palisades.  We  find  more  than  one 
reference  to  the  generous  hospitality  of  the  Whistler  quarters. 
"Major  Whistler  entertained  the  guests,"  and  again,  "Major 
Whistler's  house  was  the  inn  for  all  comers."  In  1869  Mrs.  Laura 
Suttenfield  wrote  a  short  sketch  giving  a  glimpse  of  the  lonely  life 
of  the  little  garrison  in  18 14,  when  Major  Whistler  was  in  com- 
mand. She  says :  "The  fort  at  that  time  contained  sixty  men  of 
the  regular  army,  all  patriotic  and  anxious  to'  celebrate  one  day  in 
the  year.  They  made  three  green  bowers,  one  hundred  feet  from 
the  pickets  of  the  fort,  where  Main  street  now  is,  one  bower  for  the 
dinner  table,  one  for  the  cooks  and  one  for  the  music.  Major 
Whistler  had  two  German  cooks  and  they  prepared  the  dinner. 
There  were  but  eleven  persons  at  the  table,  but  three  are  now  living 
to  tell  of  that  day.  Our  dinner  consisted  of  one  fine  turkey,  a  side 
of  venison,  roast  beef,  boiled  ham,  vegetables  in  abundance,  cran- 
berries and  green  currants.  As  for  dessert  we  had  none.  Eggs 
were  not  known  here  for  three  years  from  that  time.  There  were 
three  bottles  of  wine  sent  here  from  Cincinnati,  but  one  was  made 
use  of.  Then  there  were  a  few  toasts  and  after  three  guns  and 
music  they  went  into  the  fort  and  the  ladies  changed  their  dresses. 
Then  Major  Whistler  called  for  the  music,  which  consisted  of  one 
bass  drum,  two  small  ones,  one  fife,  violin  and  flute.  There  was  a 
long  gallery  in  the  fort,  the  musicians  took  their  seats  there.  But 
three  of  the  gentlemen  would  dance.  There  were  but  three  ladies 
present.  A  French  four  passed  off  very  well  for  an  hour.  Then 
the  gates  of  the  fort  were  closed  at  sundown,  which  gave  it  a 
gloomy  appearance.  No  children,  no  younger  persons  for  amuse- 
ment, all  retired  to  their  rooms.    All  was  still  and  quiet.    The  sen- 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  63 

tinel  on  his  lonely  round  would  give  us  the  hour  of  the  night.     In 
the  morning  we  were  aroused  by  the  beating  of  the  reveille." 

These  quiet  days  were  disturbed  in  181 5,  when  Major  Whistler 
began  to  rebuild  the  fort.  To  aid  the  soldiers,  twenty  new  work- 
men were  sent  for,  and  there  was  much  bustle  in  and  around  the 
whole  place.  Pulling  down  the  old  fort,  putting  up  the  new  one, 
burning  bricks,  and  felling  trees  for  the  oxen  to  haul,  gave  everything 
a  lively  appearance. 

A  letter  from  Serg.  W.  K.  Jordan  to  his  wife  "Betsey"  is  an- 
other delightful  scrap  that  has  floated  down  to  us  from  the  old  fort. 
The  writer  was  one  of  the  survivors  of  the  Fort  Dearborn  massacre 
and  the  letter  is  dated  October  12,  18 12.  After  relating  the  treach- 
ery of  the  Indians,  Sergeant  Jordan  continues,  "Every  man,  woman 
and  child  killed  but  fifteen, — and  thanks  be  to  God  I  was  one  of 
them !  The  first  shot  took  the  feather  out  of  my  cap,  the  next  shot 
the  epaulettes  off  my  shoulder  and  the  third  broke  the  handle  of  my 
sword.  I  had  to  surrender  myself  to  four  damned  yellow  Indians." 
His  life  was  saved  by  White  Raccoon,  who  held  him  by  the  hand 
as  he  stood  with  fourteen  other  survivors.  He  continues,  "They 
stripped  all  of  us  to  our  shirts  and  trousers  and  every  family  took 
one  as  long  as  we  lasted  and  then  started  for  their  towns.  Every 
man  to  his  tent,  O  Israel !  But  I  will  just  inform  you  when  I  got 
to  my  strange  lodging  I  looked  about  like  a  cat  in  a  strange  garret." 
Jordan  was  warned  against  any  attempt  to  escape.  He  was  told  if 
he  would  remain  he  should  be  a  chief,  but  attempt  to  escape  and  he 
should  be  burned  alive.  We  are  sorry  when  he  says  he  has  no  time 
to  write  the  particulars  of  his  daring  escape.  So  we  only  know  that 
he  stole  a  horse  from  his  captors  and  got  to  Fort  Wayne  after  seven 
days  in  the  wilderness.  He  adds,  "After  all  my  fun  I  weigh  one 
hundred  ninety."  Then  he  tells  her  that  as  he  writes  he  is  wearing 
some  of  the  soft  hair  of  her  head  and  he  beseeches  her  to  see  that 
Mountford  (his  little  son)  is  sent  to  school. 

It  is  easy  to  see  from  these  old  letters  and  recollections,  that 
life  in  the  old  fort  was  of  much  the  same  stuff  that  life  is  today. 
Styles  have  changed  and  so  there  is  a  different  pattern,  but  the  ma- 
terial is  the  same.  A  letter  written  by  Major  Joseph  Jenkinson, 
another  commander,  gives  us  one  hasty  look  beyond  those  high  and 
far-away  palisades : 


64  THE    MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

Fort  Wayne,  March  14,  1814. 
Dear  Sarah: 

I  have  nothing  of  importance  to  inform  you  of,  but  I  shall  suffer 
no  opportunity  to  escape  unembraced.  I  hope,  my  love,  that  you  and  my 
children  are  well.  I  do  not  know  what  to  think  of  your  coming  here,  but  I 
wish  you  were  here,  and  had  come  with  me  when  I  first  came.  I  am  bringing 
Ephraim  completely  under.  I  have  had  [him]  once  in  the  guard  house  hand- 
cuffed. I  have  given  him  two  whippings,  the  last  of  which  was  a  very  hard 
one.  I  shall  cool  the  fellow,  he  bounces  at  the  word.  I  am,  my  love,  your  de- 
voted husband,  Joseph  Jenkinson. 
Sarah  Jenkinson. 

Give  my  love  to  father,  mother  and  family. 

The  unruly  "Ephraim"  was  the  commander's  negro  servant  and 
the  punishment  was  not  unusual  for  the  time.  Captain  Hamtramck, 
most  humane  of  officers,  complained  to  General  Wayne  that  the 
"economic  allowance"  of  one  hundred  lashes  as  a  punishment  for 
theft  seemed  inadequate  to  make  an  honest  man  of  a  rascal.  The 
soldiers  would  steal  beef  and  other  rations  and  he  was  "tired  flog- 
ging them."  But  in  1819  the  slender  garrison  was  ordered  farther 
west  and  military  rule  in  the  fort  was  a  thing  of  the  past.  It 
seemed  for  a  time  a  very  sad  and  lonely  little  village  without  the 
pleasant  company  and  protection  of  the  soldiers. 

The  military  influence  had  dominated  the  society  of  the  day. 
Admiration  for  the  glory  and  the  dignity  of  a  life  at  arms  was  a 
natural  feeling  of  the  time  and  place.  The  discipline  was  a  much- 
needed  object  lesson  to  the  frontiersmen.  The  United  States  gov- 
ernment has  always  been  a  model  housekeeper  and  we  can  imagine 
the  plaza  in  the  enclosure  of  the  old  fort,  which  "was  well  kept, 
smooth  and  gravelly."  Then  there,  close  at  hand,  was  Fort 
Wayne's  first  fire  apparatus,  for  "under  the  double  gallery,  or  ver- 
anda, hung  leather  fire  buckets,  painted  blue." 

A  FORGOTTEN   HERO. 

For  a  time  we  have  but  slight  account  of  the  deserted  barracks. 
The  Rev.  Isaac  McCoy's  "History  of  Baptist  Missions,"  published 
in  1840,  tells  much  of  the  Indians,  but  little  of  the  French  and 
English  population.  His  minute  account  of  a  spiritual  crusade  has 
given  us  an  accurate  picture  of  certain  phases  of  life  in  and  around 
the  old  block  houses.     His  experiences  continually  remind  one  of 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  65 

those  early  Jesuit  Relations,  which  have  been  such  a  source  of  infor- 
mation to  American  historians.  As  he  travels  through  the  forest 
he  is  grateful  for  a  handful  of  parched  corn  and  a  piece  of  dry 
bark  to' sleep  on.  As  Lejeune  wrote,  "Though  my  bed  had  not 
been  made  up  since  the  creation  of  the  world,  it  was  not  hard 
enough  to  prevent 'me  sleeping."  After  many  adventures  by  flood 
and  field,  on  the  29th  of  May,  1820,  Mr.  McCoy  opened  his  mission 
school  in  the  fort  buildings,  "with  ten  English  scholars,  six  French, 
eight  Indians  and  one  negro."  These  eight  little  Indian  boys  were 
to  be  clothed,  fed  and  lodged  by  the  mission.  Mrs.  McCoy  had  the 
care  of  them  and  of  her  own  seven  young  children  and  all  the  house 
work  for  her  portion. 

Then  comes  the  "help"  problem.  "We  hired  an  Indian  woman 
to  assist  in  domestic  labors,  but  she  afforded  little  help."  The  sad 
case  of  Mrs.  McCoy  is  like  the  one  James  Russell  Lowell  writes 
of  as  he  tries  to  strengthen  the  hearts  of  the  discouraged  mistress 
of  the  modern  domestic.  He  asks  her  to  imagine  a  household  with 
one  wild  Indian  woman  for  "help,"  communicated  with  by  signs. 
"Those  were  serious  times  indeed,  when  your  cook  might  give 
warning  by  taking  your  scalp  or  chignon,  as  the  case  might  be,  and 
make  off  with  it  into  the  woods." 

In  less  than  a  month  after  his  arrival  Mr.  McCoy  was  com- 
pelled to  make  a  journey  to  the  state  of  Ohio  to  purchase  needed 
supplies.  Among  other  things,  he  brought  back  two  luxuries,  a 
spinning  wheel  and  a  two-horse  wagon.  And  then  Mrs.  McCoy 
began  her  efforts  to  change  the  simple  life  of  these  primitive  people 
to  the  strenuousness  that  belongs  to  a  higher  civilization.  The 
"gossiping  and  tattle"  were  to  be  exchanged  for  spinning  and  spell- 
ing, and  no  doubt  they  even  learned  "to  cure  pork  or  venison,  and 
to  make  sauer  kraut  and  spruce  beer."  Flour  and  meal  had  to  be 
hauled  in  wagons  about  one  hundred  miles  and  most  of  the  way 
through  a  wilderness  and  over  bad  roads.  "Corn,  which  in  the 
white  settlements  seldom  sold  for  more  than  twenty-five  cents  a 
bushel,  here  cost  a  dollar  and  a  half  or  two  dollars."  Soon  the  In- 
dian youths  numbered  twenty-six,  then  thirty.  But  the  Board  of 
Missions  seemed  to  forget  the  brave  missionaries  and  they  became 
so  destitute  as  to  be  ashamed  of  their  poverty  even  before  the  poor 
Indians.     Mrs.  McCoy  taught  the  girls  to  sew  and  to  use  the  spin- 

5 


66  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

ning  wheel  and  in  1821  the  mission  boasted  forty-two  Indian 
youths,  "as  Mr.  McCoy  always  calls  the  pupils  of  this  pioneer  man- 
ual training  school."  Then  it  is  decided  to  be  best  for  Mrs.  McCoy 
to  go  "back  to  the  settlements"  for  a  time.  The  cheapest,  and  so  the 
most  available  method  of  travel  for  her  seemed  to  be  to  descend  the 
Wabash  in  an  open  canoe.  "The  distance  by  water  was  between 
three  and  four  hundred  miles  and  more  than  half  of  this,  was 
through  a  wilderness  inhabited  only  by  uncivilized  Indians.  It  was 
the  25th  of  June  that,  with  our  three  younger  children,  she  took  her 
leave,  not  expecting  to  return  in  less  time  than  three  months."  The 
weather  was  hot  and  the  poor  mother  could  scarcely  sleep  as  she 
tried  to  keep  the  mosquitoes  away  from  her  little  children.  They 
camped  on  shore  every  night,  were  nine  days  on  the  river  and  it 
rained  almost  every  day!  Their  provisions  were  damaged,  their 
clothing  mildewed,  but  the  brave  heroine  lived  to  return  overland 
with  a  young  babe  the  following  September. 

In  February,  1822,  when  Mr.  Coy  was  returning  from  a  trip  to 
Philadelphia  and  Washington,  he  found  his  sorest  trial  awaiting 
him.  During  his  horseback  journey  of  more  than  seventeen  hun- 
dred miles,  in  cold  weather,  over  wretched  roads,  he  had  became 
so  ill  as  to  be  almost  unable  to  travel.  When  within  five  miles  of 
home  he  learned  of  the  attempted  murder,  by  a  Pottowattamie  In- 
dian, of  his  nine-year-old  daughter.  As  Mr.  McCoy  writes  of  his 
mental  and  spiritual  struggles  in  this  bitter  hour,  he  records  his 
grateful  obligations  to  Mr.  B.  B.  Kercheval,  United  States  Indian 
agent  at  that  time. 

Mr.  Kercheval  and  Mr.  McCoy  worked  hand  in  hand  endeav- 
oring to  encourage  the  Indians  to  cultivate  the  soil.  On  March  8, 
1822,  the  loom  began  to  make  cloth  from  yarn  spun  by  the  Indian 
girls  of  the  mission.  Later  in  the  same  year  three  Catholic  priests, 
who  came  to  administer  the  sacrament  and  to  say  mass,  visited  the 
Baptist  mission  school  and  drank  tea  with  the  missionaries.  But 
at  last  a  farewell  sermon  is  preached  and  the  Indians,  the  oxen, 
horses,  hogs,  milch  cows  and  family  are  on  their  way  to  a  new  sta- 
tion, farther  from  white  settlements.  December  9,  1822,  again  the 
little  village  felt  deserted.  The  whole  story  of  the  hardihood  and 
sacrifices  of  the  Rev.  Isaac  McCoy  and  his  wife,  Christiana  McCoy, 
is  one  of  pathetic  heroism.     They  seem  to  illustrate  a  quaint  bit 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  67 

from  an  old  New  England  sermon,  "God  sifted  a  whole  nation 
that  he  might  send  choice  grain  over  into  this  wilderness." 

THE  VILLAGE. 

The  war  department  gives  us  one  bit  of  a  description  of  early 
life  in  the  "village  that  had  grown  under  the  shelter  of  the  fort." 
In  1823  Major  S.  H.  Long,  as  a  topographical  engineer,  was  here 
three  days  and  he  says,  "To  a  person  visiting  the  Indian  country 
for  the  first  time  this  place  offers  many  characteristic  and  singular 
features.  The  village  is  small;  it  has  grown  under  the  shelter  of 
the  fort  and  contains  a  mixed  and  apparently  very  worthless  popu- 
lation. The  inhabitants  are  chiefly  of  Canadian  origin,  all  more  or 
less  imbued  with  Indian  blood.  The  confusion  of  languages  owing 
to  the  diversity  of  Indian  tribes  which  generally  collect  near  a  fort 
makes  the  traveler  imagine  himself  in  a  real  Babel."  He  goes  on 
to  tell  of  his  disgust  at  seeing  the  Frenchmen  dressed  like  Indi- 
ans, in  "breech  cloth  and  blanket."  The  ways  of  living  were 
chiefly  matters  of  adjustment  or  adaptability.  The  New  England 
colonist  had  used  the  smoky  pine  knot  because  it  was  cheap  and 
near  at  hand.  But  the  northern  Indiana  pioneer  found  no  pine  for- 
ests stretching  from  his  doorway,  no  fat  cod-fish  to  be  had  for  the 
catching.  His  Betty  lamp  was  filled  with  lard  oil  or  bear's  grease 
and  the  tallow  dips  were  early  replaced  by  mould  candles. 

The  prosperous  fur  traders  easily  exchanged  their  peltries  for 
the  spermaceti  candles  of  the  eastern  whaler.  The  French  families 
loved  dinners  and  dances,  gayety  and  song,  and  the  visit  of  tourist 
or  trader  would  be  made  the  occasion  for  whatever  festivities  were 
possible.  The  log  house  of  John  P.  Hedges  (southwest  corner  of 
Calhoun  and  Berry  streets)  had  the  whole  up-stairs  in  one  room  and 
there  was  many  a  dance  given  on  that  puncheon  floor.  Several 
other  houses  were  able  to  give  dances  in  up-stairs  rooms  built  es- 
pecially with  that  intention.  A  dinner  at  the  tavern  was  another 
way  of  entertaining  an  honored  guest.  On  these  occasions  finery 
from  Quebec,  Cincinnati,  New  York,  or  even  Paris,  would  deck 
the  black-eyed  beauties  who  sat  around  the  table.  After  a  time 
the  ladies  would  be  escorted  home  with  lanterns,  all  the  men  re- 
turning to  drink  a  few  more  rounds.     Great  was  the  hard-headed 


68  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

hero  who  could  mix  his  drinks  and  stay  sober  as  other  unsteady 
guests  slid  to  the  floor  or  reeled  home !  The  old  French  lady  who 
recounted  these  tales  acknowledged  that  now  and  then  there  were 
a  few  chicken-livered  youths  who  refused  to  get  drunk.  "But  not 
a  many !" 

The  little  village  seemed  to  thrive  by  the  first  intention  and  fine 
hewn-log  houses  became  common.  Those  first  fur  traders  who 
had  been  bold  enough  or  greedy  enough  to  risk  the  uncertain  tem- 
per of  the  Indians  were  accumulating  gold.  From  1820,  when  the 
American  Fur  Company  established  an  agency  here,  the  fur  trader 
and  dealer  in  Indian  goods  were  the  business  men  of  the  village. 
To  be  sure,  any  one  who  could  get  a  keg  of  whiskey  and  a  box  of 
tobacco  could  set  up  a  store.  Customers,  chiefly  Indian,  were  plenty 
and  gullible.  The  villages  at  the  meeting  of  the  rivers  were  pros- 
perous. Canoes  lined  the  banks  and  after  the  hunting  season  the 
Indians  would  bring  in  great  loads  of  peltries.  Blankets,  known 
commercially  as  "Mackinac  blankets,"  were  manufactured  in  Eu- 
rope especially  for  the  Indian  trader.  These  blankets  were  all  wool, 
about  one-half  inch  thick,  with  two  black  stripes  at  each  end.  The 
sizes  were  designated  as  "points"  and  were  woven  in  the  corner  of 
each  blanket.  An  ordinary  overcoat  could  be  made  from  a  "3  1-2 
point"  blanket.  But  if  a  hood  was  required,  or  the  blanket  was  to 
be  used  for  hunting  or  war  expeditions,  a  "4  point"  was  needed. 
They  cost  from  eight  dollars  to*  fifteen  dollars  and  could  be  dyed 
to  suit  the  taste  of  the  purchaser.  All  profitable  trade  was  Indian 
trade.  On  Columbia  street  was  a  famous  jewelry  manufactory, 
supported  almost  wholly  by  Indian  traders.  This  was  in  charge  of 
Jean  Batiste  Becquette,  known  as  "Father  Becquette,"  or  the  "In- 
dian jeweler."  He  employed  thirty  or  forty  French  workmen  "to 
make  earbobs  for  the  Miami  belles."  He  bought  old  silver  and 
melted  silver  dollars  to  make  beads,  brooches,  crosses,  bracelets  and 
other  essentials  of  Indian  toilet.  The  American  Fur  Company  was 
his  principal  customer. 

When  canoes  and  pirogues  were  plying  our  rivers,  when  wild, 
game  was  cheap  and  bear  and  wolf-skin  rugs  common,  while  pine 
and  matches  were  scarce  and  expensive,  both  labor  and  land  were 
commodities  of  greatly  varying  value.     One  man  boasts  that  he 
bought  the  lot  he  is  still  living  upon  from  an  Indian  for  a  keg  of 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  69 

whisky.     Later  a  house  and  lot  was  known  to  be  given  a  lawyer 
'  as  a  fee  for  getting  a  divorce.     Agriculture  was  slow  and  tedious 
and  naturally  dragged  in  the  face  of  such  easy  returns. 

The  sale  of  lots  in  1823,  the  organization  of  the  county,  and  the 
"canal  talk,"  all  helped  to  move  immigration  to  this  point  and  to 
favor  permanent  homes.  Descriptions  of  handsome  double  hewn- 
log  houses  have  passed  into  local  tradition  as  unusual  even  for  the 
time.  The  house  of  Major  Lewis  (about  the  site  of  the  Lewis 
homestead  on  Montgomery  street)  was  one  of  the  sights  of  the  vil- 
lage. It  was  covered  with  roses,  climbing  over  its  doors  and  win- 
dows, and  the  yard  had  hedges  and  great  clumps  of  wild  roses.  It 
was  to  this  picturesque  home  Gen.  Lew  Wallace  came  when  a  mere 
lad  to  visit  his  aunt,  Mrs.  Lewis.  No  sight-seer  was  allowed  in 
the  village  without  being  taken  to  see  this  beautiful  rose-covered 
log  house. 

Even  in  the  old  g'arrison  days  there  was  always  a  forge  or 
blacksmith  shop  and  the  store-house.  Then  came  a  butcher  shop1 — 
but  "a  sharp  knife  and  a  drove  and  drover,"  would  be  a  better  descrip- 
tion of  the  first  meat  markets.  At  last  Peter  Kiser  settled  down  as 
village  butcher.  He  had  individuality  enough  to  make  him  a 
marked  character,  remembered  today  for  brusque  speech  and  a 
famous  scrap  book.  Later  his  "general  store"  was  kept  in  the  most 
erratic  manner,  but  he  somehow  managed  to  have  a  little  more  cash 
each  year  when  he  went  to  Cincinnati  to  buy  goods,  and  that  was 
his  only  invoice. 

We  soon  hear  of  Wilcox,  Peltier,  Tower,  Miller,  Fink  and 
Griebel  making  beds,  chairs,  tables,  desks  and  all  furniture  needed 
in  the  village  households.  Not  that  the  first  settlers  had  always 
waited  for  home  manufactures.  When  Chief  Richardville  finished 
his  house  near  Huntington  he  sent  to  Paris  for  the  furniture. 
Though  dressers  were  more  common  than  sideboards,  yet  the  beau- 
tiful sideboard  of  Mrs.  Zenas  Henderson  is  remarkable  even  to- 
day for  beauty  and  elegance.  When  Judge  Cooper  finished  his 
house  on  East  Berry  street  in  1836  he  sent  to  New  York  for  the 
furnishings.  The  bills  for  the  old  pier  glass  and  for  carpets,  cur- 
tains, paper,  etc.,  show  elegance  was  sought  as  well  as  comfort.  In 
the  Hanna  homestead  are  exquisite  mahogany  pieces  that  once  were 
in  the  log  house  built  as  the  first  home   of   Judge  Hanna.     Then 


70  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

these  early  craftsmen  veneered  long  mahogany  couches  and  covered 
them  with  horse  hair.  They  copied  the  "pattern  pieces"  brought 
by  far  waterways  and  soon  "Loo  tables,"  candlestick  stands,  side- 
boards, console  tables,  began  to  take  the  place  of  the  makeshift  fur- 
niture. 

Enterprising  pioneers  had  brick  yards,  tanneries,  breweries,  two 
distilleries,  a  pottery  and  in  1840  a  great  project  for  the  manufac- 
ture of  silk.  Copies  of  the  American  Silk  Journal  in  old  attics  at- 
test the  scientific  interest  taken  in  the  silk-worm  business.  Mul- 
berry trees  were  planted  and  silk  worms  imported,  but  the  trees  did 
not  thrive  and  worms  and  project  died  together. 

Side  by  side  with  a  social  life  of  marked  cordiality  and  simplic- 
ity was  a  French  society,  alien  in  its  tastes  and  ideas.  When  the 
Hon.  Hugh  McCulloch  came  here  in  1833  he  found  the  little  village 
very  fortunate  in  the  character  of  its  inhabitants.  Settlers  from 
over  seas,  colonists  from;  Maryland,  Virginia  or  the  eastern  states 
gave  character  to  the  town. 

When  home  catering  was  a  necessity  and  unexpected  visitors  a 
certainty  something  could  always  be  managed.  One  famous  house- 
keeper explained :  "In  the  meat  house  hung  plenty  of  hams ;  in  the 
cellar  were  tubs  of  eggs;  potatoes  and  flour  we  always  had,  and 
so  something  could  be  done."  Here,  as  everywhere,  the  quick  wit 
and  the  willing  hands  made  the  most  of  opportunities.  It  takes 
more  than  "food  and  fire"  to  produce  a  meal,  and  SO'  the  clever 
cooks  deserve  the  honors.  At  the  time  of  the  canal  celebration  cer- 
tain families  entertained  several  hundred  guests.  In  those  early 
days  there  was  always  a  profusion  of  eatables  on  the  tables  of 
well-bred  people.  A  modern  dinner  table,  with  its  peppers  and 
salts,  butter,  nuts,  flowers  and  bonbons,  would  have  struck  dismay 
to  the  hearty  trenchermen  of  1830  and  1840.  A  fine  cake  was  sure 
to  be  a  pyramid  and  after  a  grand  affair  the  question  would  be, 
"How  did  the  pyramid  look?" 

The  record  is  a  scant  one  of  balls  and  parties  before  1840.  But 
among  the  old  treasures  of  one  attic  was  found  a  printed  invitation 
to  a  ball  on  Christmas  eve,  1833.  All  that  the  local  printing  office 
could  produce  of  a  screaming  American  eagle,  stereotype  tavern 
cuts,  rosettes,  scrolls  and  borders  is  used  to  add  to  the  dignity  of  the 
occasion.    And  the  text  reads  : 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  yi 

Christmas  Temperance  Ball  for  1833.  Tuesday,  December  24.  The  Managers 
of  the  Christian  Temperance  Ball  tender  their  respects  to  and  solicit  the  com- 
pany of  [script]  Mr.  Henry  Cooper  &  Lady  at  a  Ball  to  be  given  at  the  house  of 
Z.  Henderson,  in  the  town  of  Fort  Wayne,  on  the  evening  of  the  24th  instant. 

Respectfully, 

Isaac  Spencer, 
Joseph  Swinney, 
W.  Rankin, 
Thomas  Johnson, 

R.  J.  Dawson. 
December  29,  1833. 

And  here  is  another  invitation,  just  two  years  later : 

NEW  YEAR'S  BALL. 

The  company  of  [script]  Mr.  Samuel  Sowers  and  Lady  is  solicited  at  the 
Washington  Hall  on  Thursday  evening,  the  31st  instant,  at  5  o'clock. 

W.  G.  Ewing, 
Hugh  McCulloch, 
O.  W.  Jefferds, 
Francis  Av aline, 
John  Spencer, 
Joseph  Sinclear, 
R.  J.  Dawson. 
R.  Brackenridge,  Jr 

December  25,  1835. 

If  we  could  look  into  these  frontier  ball-rooms  we  would  see 
fashions  and  styles  of  this  year  of  grace,  for  this  was  the  picturesque 
era  when  they  were  "crystalizing  the  fashions  of  1830."  It  was  also 
the  time  that  they  were  using  much  formal  and  conventional  con- 
versation. The  delightful  letters  of  Judge  Cooper  are  so  serious 
as  to  seem  almost  stilted  to  light-minded  folk.  When  this  clever 
lawyer,  "famous  for  his  wit  and  repartee,"  writes  tender,  loving 
letters  to  his  young  wife  there  is  no  touch  of  flippancy,  none  of  the 
modern  familiarity  that  seems  the  pleasant  privilege  of  man  and 
wife.  Whether  he  bemoans  his  absence  from  her,  begs  her  to  get 
plenty  of  household  help,  advises  her  to  "buy  mould  and  not  dipped 
candles,"  reminds  her  to  keep  Edward  off  the  street  so  he  won't 
play  so  much  with  the  Indians,  or  begs  her  to  go  to  comfort  a  be- 
reaved neighbor — it  is  all  in  stately,  old-fashioned  phrases. 

Nothing  was  ever  quite  so  wonderful  as  the  great  canal  cele- 
bration, July  4,  1843.    Invitations  were  sent  to  General  Cass,  John 


J2  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

Quincy  Adams,  Henry  Clay,  Daniel  Webster,  Col.  R.  M.  Johnson, 
President  VanBuren,  General  Scott  and  many  others.  There  were 
boats  of  every  description,  horseback  riders,  wagon  loads  of  people, 
half  the  population  of  northern  Indiana  jostling  each  other  in  Fort 
Wayne,  the  great  canal  town.  The  canal  boats  extended  in  double 
tier  from  the  upper  to  the  lower  basin.  These  boats,  decorated 
with  flags  and  every  variety  of  bunting,  gave  to  the  wharf  a  very 
gay  appearance.  Then  came  the  grand  procession  in  the  following 
order:  Martial  music;  Revolutionary  soldiers  and  soldiers  of  the 
late  war;  orator,  Gen.  Lewis  Cass;  reader,  Hugh  McCulloch;  chap- 
lain, Rev.  Boyd;  president,  Ethan  A.  Brown;  then  the  twenty-nine 
vice-presidents,  followed  by  ladies,  the  Defiance  Band,  invited 
guests,  committees,  Marion  band,  engineering  corps,  German  band, 
citizens  of  Ohio  and  other  states,  Miami  warriors,  Kekionga  Band 
and  citizens  of  Indiana.  The  local  newspaper  tells  us  that  the  ora- 
tion of  General  Cass  "was  a  masterly  production,  somewhat 
lengthy."  He  traced  the  growth  and  development  of  this  new 
country  and  described  an  imaginary  voyage  in  an  aboriginal  skiff 
up  the  Maumee,  over  the  tableland  and  down  Little  river  on  the 
opposite  side  to  the  great  water  beyond.  All  the  houses  in 
the  town  were  given  over  to  the  entertainment  of  guests.  Judge 
Hanna's  house  had  a  candle  in  every  window  and  the  illumination 
could  be  seen  for  miles. 

At  the  opening  of  the  Hedekin  House,  in  1846,  there  was  a 
grand  military  ball.  The  Silver  Grays,  of  Detroit,  came  to  give 
foreign  tone  to  the  affair.  Their  martial  manners  and  military 
trappings  must  have  made  sad  havoc  among  the  belles  of  the  day. 
For  there  is  yet  an  echo  of  the  glory  of  their  uniforms,  trimmed  with 
black  velvet.  Later  the  hops  at  the  Rockhill  House  were  famous 
for  the  display  of  wealth  and  beautiful  gowns. 

In  the  Charcoal  Sketches  of  John  W.  Dawson  he  says  that  the 
first  marriage  in  Fort  Wayne  was  that  of  Dr.  Edwards  to*  Miss 
Hunt.  The  bride,  who  was  related  to  General  Lewis  Cass,  was  a 
daughter  of  Colonel  Thomas  Hunt,  who  served  under  General 
Wayne  at  the  storming  of  Stony  Point.  This  Colonel  Hunt 
brought  his  family  to  Fort  Wayne  from  Boston  in  1797.  Later  he 
was  stationed  at  Detroit  and  in  1803  Colonel  Hunt  was  ordered 
west  with  his  regiment.    Captain  Whipple,  the  commanding  officer, 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  73 

and  Dr.  Edwards,  the  surgeon's  mate,  stood  at  the  landing  at  Fort 
Wayne  watching  the  regiment  coming  up  the  Maumee.  There 
were  fifty  Montreal  bateaux,  and  it  must  have  been  an  imposing 
sight.  But  the  surgeon's  mate  overlooked  the  parade  and  remarked 
to  his  companion  on  the  beauty  of  Miss  Hunt.  And  Miss  Hunt  had 
observed  and  noted  the  fine-looking  young  officer.  The  result  was 
a  fort  wedding  in  two  weeks  and  a  bridal  trip  to  Bellefontaine,  Mis- 
souri. Marriages  were  often  difficult  to  arrange  for.  The 
county  seat  was  distant  and  sometimes  uncertain.  But  romance 
and  affection  laughed  at  difficulties  and  far-distant  marriage  li- 
censes. There  were  fierce  rivalries,  not  a  little  artificial  gallantry, 
and  more  than  one  duel.  This  "seeking  satisfaction"  was  one  of 
the  legacies  from  fort  days.  For  such  "affairs  of  honor"  Colonel 
William  Suttenfield  was  usually  the  master  of  ceremonies.  His 
daring  ride  during  garrison  days,  his  continual  interest  in  military 
affairs,  made  him  a  sort  of  hero  to  all  the  small  boys  of  the  place. 
They  would  hang  around  his  tavern  listening  to  his  never-failing 
fund  of  adventures.  Even  when  the  stories  stopped  the  boys  would 
sit  still  or  lean  over  the  bannisters  as  though  fascinated.  Finally 
Colonel  Suttenfield  would  go  to  the  fireplace,  where  his  sword  al- 
ways hung,  buckle  it  on  and,  with  martial  stride,  begin  moving 
around  and  growling :  "I  just  feel  like  eating  a  boy  for  dinner," 
or,  perhaps,  "I  want  a  boy  boiled  today;  I'm  pretty  hungry."  No 
further  hint  was  necessary  and  every  boy  went,  and  stopped  not  on 
the  order  of  his  going.  His  wife,  Mrs.  Laura  Suttenfield,  was  one 
day  delighted  to  welcome  her  sister,  Miss  Taylor,  of  Dayton,  Ohio. 
She  came  for  this  visit  in  a  sleigh  and,  the  snow  disappearing  unex- 
pectedly, was  compelled  to  make  a  long  stay  awaiting  a  convenient 
opportunity  to  return.  But  propinquity  or  fate  interfered  and  in 
1820  Miss  Taylor  was  married  to  young  Samuel  Hanna  by  Rev. 
Isaac  McCoy.  In  spite  of  the  "magnificent  distances,"  wedding 
finery  was  gotten  together.  Besides  the  white  silk  wedding  gown, 
usage  prescribed  a  "second  day  gown."  Mrs.  Hanna's  was  a  blue 
Canton  crepe,  trimmed  in  blue  ribbons.  Her  white  satin  wedding 
slippers  were  afterwards  lent  for  more  than  one  village  wedding. 
For  this  was  the  reign  of  the  Neighbor.  All  the  characteristic  gath- 
erings of  the  early  settlers  favored  that  "neighborliness"  which  is 


74  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

surely  the  most  conspicuous   feature  of  pioneer  days;  hospitality 
and  neighborliness  were  warp  and  woof  of  the  daily  life. 

It  would  be  a  curious  sight  if  we  could  see  such  a  wedding  as 
Miss  Tilley  had.  She  was  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Marshall  Wines  and 
was  married  in  the  old  First  Presbyterian  church  (near  Lafayette 
street).  In  front  of  the  church  and  away  around  the  corner  the 
saddled  horses  of  the  wedding  party  and  of  the  wedding  guests 
were  hitched.  One  horse  had  two  small  trunks  adjusted  to  his 
back,  and  that  was  the  "pack  horse"  that  carried  the  baggage. 
Then  the  bridal  couple  came  out,  saddles  were  adjusted,  girths 
tightened  and,  with  pack  horse  and  luggage,  they  started  on  a  wed- 
ding trip  to  Logansport.  Such  a  wedding  journey  was  not  unusual. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Robert  Fleming  were  married  at  Buffalo,  and  after 
following  by  boat  the  devious  waterways  of  lake  and  canal  to  Defi- 
ance, they  rode  on  horseback  to  Fort  Wayne.  Mrs.  Fleming's  rid- 
ing skirt  was  mud  to  her  waist  when  she  dismounted.  Once  a  gay 
party  went  to  Vermilyea's  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Royal  Taylor,  and 
after  being  served  with  a  banquet,  returned,  leaving  the  bride  and 
groom  there.  William  B.  Walter  has  left  an  account  of  a  wedding 
he  attended  in  1845  at  tne  house  of  Francis  Compare!  Father 
Benoit  united  in  marriage  Mr.  Reno  (probably  Renaud),  a  young 
fur  trader,  and  Miss  Lacroix.  For  the  wedding  feast  there  was  wild 
turkey  and  venison  and  a  large  stone  jug  of  wine.  It  would  have 
been  considered  almost  sacreligious,  and  certainly  niggardly,  to  have 
a  wedding  without  wine.  Among  the  guests  were  Miss  Cynthia 
Bearss,  Miss  Edsall,  Miss  Forsythe,  Miss  Rockhill,  all  friends  of 
the  pretty  French  bride,  Angeline  Lacroix. 

The  friendly  teas  of  a  group  of  neighbors  or  friends  come  close 
to  us  as  we  read  the  old,  time-stained  invitations.  "Mr.  and  Mrs. 
McCulloch  present  their  compliments  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cooper  and 
request  the  pleasure  of  their  company  at  their  house  on  Tuesday 
evening  at  6  1-2  o'clock."  Or  again,  "Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rockhill  re- 
quest the  honor  of  your  company  this  evening  to  tea  at  half-past 
five  o'clock."  The  same  names  recur  again  and  again.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Jesse  L.  Williams,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Allen  Hamilton,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  D.  H.  Colerick,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Marshall  Wines,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
William  Ewing,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Samuel  Hanna,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hugh 
McCulloch,  were  all  names   found  on  old  invitations.      Some    of 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  75 

these  read,  "Come  to  tea  at  half-past  five,"  or  it  may  be  "half-past 
six,"  or  now  and  then  there  is  a  little  party  to  meet  "by  early  candle- 
light." 

When  Mr.  Henry  Rudisill  imported  a  Leipsic  piano  it  was  des- 
tined to1  give  pleasure  to  many  outside  his  own  household.  Farmers 
for  miles  looked  forward  to  the  stop  at  Rudisill's  to  hear  the  two 
older  daughters  play  the  piano,  while  Mr.  Rudisill  and  his  son 
Henry  played  the  flute.  It  is  amusing  to  know  that  Mr.  Rudisill 
sent  a  rocking  chair  to  Leipsic  which  created  fully  as  much  of  a 
sensation  there  as  the  new  piano  did  in  the  little  frontier  village. 
The  chair  was  looked  at  and  tried  and  known  far  and  near  as  a  New 
World  curiosity,  an  "American  rocking  chair." 

At  the  two  great  crises  of  life — birth  and  death — the  neighbors 
in  this  frontier  locality  were  very  largely  dependent  upon  each 
other.  As  trained  nurses  were  unknown,  the  kindly  heart  and 
skilled  hand  brought  grateful  relief  to  tired  watchers  where  there 
was  long  protracted  illness.  Some  people  seemed  to  have  the  touch 
and  the  knowledge  and  to  be  always  in  demand.  Such  service  was, 
of  course,  gratuitous  and  many  years  have  not  served  to  blot  out 
the  memory  of  old  kindnesses  done.  Again  and  again  was  the 
story  told  of  the  goodness  and  the  unselfishness  of  Mrs.  Lewis  G. 
Thompson  (Dr.  Thompson's  wife),  of  Mrs.  Marshall  Wines,  Miss 
Eliza  Hamilton  and  of  many  other  old  friends  and  neighbors. 

The  boon  most  appreciated  was  the  grist  mill  that  would  turn 
out  good  flour.  A  saw  mill,  with  a  corn  cracker  attachment,  was 
a  wonderful  improvement  over  the  hand-mill  grinding  of  corn. 
Wooden  mortars — sometimes  indoors,  or  made  by  hewing  out  a 
stump  in  the  dooryard — were  a  necessity  of  every  family.  As  all 
cooking  was  done  at  open  fires,  the  Dutch  oven  and  large  kettle  or 
pot  were  in  constant  use.  The  Dutch  oven  was  not  unlike  a  gas, 
or  gasoline,  oven  with  short  legs.  It  had  one  side  open  next  the 
fire  and  could  stand  among  the  coals.  Many  pioneer  men  and  wom- 
en bear  grateful  testimony  to  the  delicious  flavor  of  corn  pone  baked 
in  a  kettle  among  the  coals.  It  stood  all  one  night  and  the  next  day, 
often  turned  and  slowly  baking.  A  johnny-cake  paddle  hung  in 
view  in  every  tavern — and  it  was  in  constant  use.  Among  the  in- 
conveniences of  early  days  was  the  short-lived  splint  broom.  There 
was  never  a  corn  broom    in    the  old  fort.     There  were  expensive 


76  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

brushes  and  then  for  every-day  use  the  "Indian  broom,"  made  from 
a  hickory  sapling.  The  wire  screening,  now  so  commonly  used  as 
to  seem  a  necessity,  was  unknown  in  early  days.  As  the  family 
ate,  some  younger  member  or  a  servant  would  stand  patiently  wav- 
ing a  "fly  brush"  over  the  heads  of  the  eaters.  This  "fly  brush" 
might  be  a  stick,  with  a  common  newspaper  slit  and  tacked  on  one 
end,  or  it  might  be  a  peacock's  tail  made  into  a  round  brush.  The 
handle,  interwoven  with  narrow  ribbons,  would  be  hard  as  ivory. 
The  steady  swishing  back  and  forth  could  not  stop  for  a  moment 
or  a  horde  of  persistent  flies  would  descend  on  dinner  and  diners. 

All  we  read  or  hear  of  the  absence  of  stoves  does  not  bring  the 
facts  so  sharply  to  our  attention  as  the  editorial  notice  of  a  stove 
advertisement  in  a  local  newspaper  of  1845.  "If,"  the  editor  says 
to  the  subscriber,  "you  have  never  tried  one,  you  have  no*  idea  of 
its  convenience  and  utility."  A  fireplace  was  the  necessity  of  the 
poorest,  a  stove  the  luxury  of  the  well-to-do  householder.  So  it  is 
with  candles  and  sealing  wax,  hand-sewing,  small  panes  of  glass, 
horseback  riding  and  bare  rafters.  Our  grandparents  would  have 
been  grateful  for  a  dinner  table  lighted  with  electric  lights,  for 
gummed  envelopes,  for  the  time-saving  sewing  machine,  the  con- 
venience of  the  large  plate  glass  and  for  the  wonderful  motor  car. 
Now  we  think  these  old-time  necessities  a  sort  of  index  of  refined 
tastes.  The  warming  pans  and  nightcaps  of  our  great  grandpar- 
ents were  not  for  fashion,  but  for  comfort.  The  valance  or  curtain 
of  the  high  four-posted  bed  was  to  keep  out  the  stiff  breeze  that 
some  stray  chink  might  let  blow  in  too  freshly.  The  beds  were 
ample,  high,  wide  and  corded.  And  if  they  were  comfortable  they 
were  sure  to  have  that  fairly  oriental  luxury — a  feather  bed ! 

With  new  immigration  the  agricultural  population  came  and 
plowing  with  oxen  and  planting  of  orchards  began.  The  old  orchards 
of  Johnny  Appleseed  were  greatly  appreciated  by  the  early  settlers. 
Both  from  gratitude  and  pity  he  was  allowed  to  lie  on  the  kitchen 
floor  by  the  fireplace.  Even  in  this  fertile  soil  the  necessary  labor 
was  pitiless  in  its  exactions.  Agricultural  implements  were  so  im- 
perfect that  planting  and  harvesting  meant  patient  and  severe  toil. 
When  their  textiles  were  ready  for  wear,  if  the  first  settlers  had 
sheared,  carded  and  spun,  or  hackled,  fulled  and  dyed  and  woven, 
they  realized  the  value  of  their  material.     It  was  a  lesson  in  prac- 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  77 

tical  economics  and  it  made  each  one  ready  and  anxious  to  cut  his 
garment  according  to  his  cloth. 

Among  the  dissipations  of  the  women  were  such  co-operative 
industries  as  quilting  bees,  apple  butter  parings  and  candle  dipping. 
Add  to  this  the  busy  spring  days  of  soap  making  and  the  fall  car- 
nage of  hog  killing,  and  there  must  have  been  many  strenuous  sea- 
sons and  tired  muscles.  Through  it  all,  for  the  pioneer  mother  was 
the  regular  business  of  cradle  rocking,  one  task  that  with  its  work 
and  worry  carried  its  own  balm  and  blessing. 

Young  ladies  were  sent  east  to  finishing  schools  and  had  such 
studies  as  were  thought  suited  to  the  "female  mind,"  and  such  mild 
athletics  as  battledoor  and  shuttlecock  afforded.  They  studied 
music  and  learned  to  play  on  a  piano  resembling  tihe  "spinet  with 
its  thin  metallic  trills."  Of  this  same  "tinkling  trill"  Mrs.  Earle 
writes :  "There  is  no  sound  born  in  the  nineteenth  century  that  at 
all  resembles  it.  Like  'loggerheads'  in  the  coals  and  'lugpoles'  in  the 
chimney,  like  church  lotteries  and  tithing  men,  the  spinet-  -even  its 
very  voice — is  extinct." 

New  elegancies  began  to  invade  the  social  life  of  the  place.  Not 
long  after  Mrs.  P.  P.  Bailey  left  the  first  calling  cards  for  the  ladies 
on  her  visiting  list,  another  delightful  shock  came;  a  party  was 
to  be  given  and  "P.  P.  C."  was  in  one  corner  of  the  invitations. 

OLD  PORTRAITS. 

"Up  in  the  attic  I  found  them,  locked  in  the  cedar  chest, 
Where  the  flowered  gowns  lie  folded,  which  once  were  brave  as  the  best ; 
And,  like  the  qneer  old  jackets  and  the  waistcoats  gay  with  stripes, 
They  tell  of  a  worn-out  fashion — these  old  daguerreotypes. 

'Quaint  little  folding  cases  fastened  with  tiny  hook, 
Seemingly  made  to  tempt  one  to  lift  up  the  latch  and  look, 
Linings  of  purple  velvet,  odd  little  frames  of  gold, 
Circling  the  faded  faces  brought  from  the  days  of  old." 

Queer  oil  paintings,  miniatures,water  colors  and  other  examples 
of  the  art  of  the  day  hang  on  the  walls  of  old  homesteads.  Some- 
times, alas!  these  searched-for  pictures  lie  in  dusty  attics,  some- 
times they  have  gone  through  a  "rummage  sale"  to  a  more  appre- 
ciative owner,  and  not  infrequently  they  are  ashes — by  accident  or 


78  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

design.  Sometimes  an  eastern  or  southern  "limner"  left  a  canvas 
of  real  beauty,  with  more  of  art  than  sentiment  to  secure  its  place 
among  the  family  treasures.  But,  whether  it  is  a  crudely  done 
"family  group"  or  a  silhouette,  or  a  Rembrandt  Peale,  nothing  can 
give  so  much  at  a  glance  of  old  customs  and  fashions  as  an  old  pic- 
ture. Sometimes  the  name  of  the  artist  is  forgotten  by  a  careless 
generation,  but  of  a  certainty  there  painted  here  before  1850  Mr. 
Rockwell,  Mr.  Freeman,  B.  G.  Cosgrove,  J.  Hegler  and  R.  B. 
Crafft.    February  3,  1844,  we  find  the  following  advertisement: 

The  subscriber  informs  the  public  that  he  is  now  ready  to  take  in  a  superio 
style  the  likeness  of  all  who  will  favor  him  with  their  custom.  All  likenesses 
are  warranted  correct  and  satisfactory  or  no  charge  made.  Ladies  and  gentle- 
men are  respectfully  asked  to  call  and  examine  specimens.  R.  B.  Crafft. 

Then,  in  1845,  J.  Hegler  announces  himself  as  a  "portrait 
painter,"  but  he  will  also  paint  "landscape  window  shades,  fire 
screens,  etc."  Daguerre's  process  of  using  the  sun  for  an  artist  was 
beginning  to  make  its  way  even  to  this  growing  and  thriving  town. 
In  1840  Dr.  Draper  had  succeeded  in  making  daguerreotype  por- 
traits in  New  York.  At  first  the  "sun  process"  was  supposed  to  be 
only  suitable  for  still  life.  But  very  lovely  and  flattering  were  the 
portraits  made  by  these  "Daguerrean  artists,"as  the  advertisements 
call  them.  Early  in  the  '50s  exquisite  pictures  and  fine  cases  came 
from  the  gallery  of  Mr.  McDonald.  Ten  years  later  we  find  Mr. 
Benham  at  his  Premium  Gallery,  corner  Calhoun  and  Columbia 
streets,  ready  to  make  photographs  or  ambrotypes  "in  the  highest 
degree  of  perfection  known  to  the  art."  And  then  came  the  charm- 
ing ambrotypes,  with  both  detail  and  softness  to  recommend  them. 
The  very  cases  have  an  old-time  charm.  Some  were  inlaid  with 
gold  or  silver  lines  or  mother-of-pearl.  Sometimes  whole  cases 
were  of  mother-of-pearl  or  of  the  precious  metals.  The  larger  ones 
were  made  in  imitation  of  books,  and  with  their  gilt  titles  "Token" 
or  "Souvenir,"  could  have  stood  among  a  row  of  prayer  or  gift 
books.  One  exquisite  case  is  covered  with  green  velvet  outside  and 
inside,  with  gold  corners.  Another  has  a  beautiful  ivory  cameo  set 
in  the  mother-of-pearl.  But  all  these  were  soon  superseded  by  the 
commercially  profitable  ferrotype,  tintype  and  photograph. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  79 

OLD   ADVERTISEMENTS. 

xAithougti  the  editorial  and  the  news  columns  of  the  early  pa- 
pers are  reticent  as  to  the  daily  life  of  their  subscribers,  the  adver- 
tisements are  frankly  confidential.     There  almost  every  line  marks 
the  difference  between  yesterday  and  today.     For  example,  in  1845, 
A.  B.  Miller  makes  special  note  of  the  fact  that  he  has  for  sale  pot* 
ash  kettles  and  grindstones  and  that  he  will  pay  the  highest  price 
for  one  hundred  tons    of   black  salts  and  ten  thousand  bushels    of 
ashes.     Today  potash  kettles  have  fallen  into  "inocuous  desuetude" 
and  black  salts  is  given  in  neither  dictionary  nor  chemistry.     About 
the  same  time  Dr.  Beecher,  who,  like  most  early  physicians,  had 
a  "doctor  shop,"  desired  to  exchange  drugs,  medicines,  paints  or 
dye  stuffs  for  bees-wax,  ginseng  and  Seneca  snake  root.    Then  Rob- 
inson &  Paige  advertise  "Men's  heavy    wax    boots,  heavy    fisher- 
man's or  hunter's  long  boots,  also  woman's  and  girl's  brogans,  fine 
for  the  country."     We  can  not  but  wonder  if  those  "brogans"  did 
service  in  picking  cranberries  in  the  great  cranberry  marsh  west  of 
town.     When  an  advertisement  lays  special  stress  on  "city-made 
slippers  and  gaiters"  we  know  the  day  has  gone  by  when  young 
Francis  Aveline  can  make  moccasins  or  shoe  packs  for  the  whole 
village.     Again  the  meaning  of  the  advertisement  is  absolutely  un- 
intelligible without  local  and  intimate  knowledge  of  the  affairs  of 
the  day.    For  example,  Hamilton  &  Williams  offer  for  sale  a  mys- 
terious commodity,  "White  Dog  and  scrip."     This  is  merely  a  line 
from  the  sad  financial  tale  of  the  Wabash  and  Erie  Canal.     Blue 
Dog  and  its  fractional  currency,  Blue  Pup,  belonged  to  the  same  lit- 
ter as  the  Wildcat  money  of  Michigan.     In  an  early  paper  Peter  P. 
Bailey,  at  the  Sign  of  the  Padlock,  calls  attention  to  his  large  and 
well-selected  stock  of  hardware  and  miscellaneous  goods.     Very 
attractive  it  is  to  read  of  his  "spectacles  and  snuff-box  gay,"  of  his 
tobacco  boxes,  cigar  cases,  hearth  brushes,  lard  and  oil  lamps,  Brit- 
tania    candlesticks,  brass  and    iron    fire  dogs,  powder   horns    and 
Juniata  nails.     A  little  later  at  the  Sign  of  the  Padlock  there  are  a 
hundred  stoves  for  sale!     Besides  the  Areola  Company's  new  and 
splendid  hot-air  parlor  stoves,  there  are  Premium  cooking  stoves, 
and  then  a  jewel  of  a  stove  called  "Atwood's   Hot  Air  Empire 
Cooking  Stove."  The  alluring  advertisement  says:    "For  this  stove 


80  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

two  sticks  of  wood  will  last  all  day."  With  a  fine  vagueness  as  to 
quantities,  Sinclair  &  Chittenden  announce,  "We  want  a  right  smart 
chance  of  butter  and  a  pretty  considerable  lot  of  eggs,  for  which 
we  will  pay  either  cash  or  goods."  The  names  of  the  materials 
kept  at  the  Mammoth  Cave  (S.  Hanna  &  Sons)  have  an  old-time 
sound.  There  are  Carolina  plaids,  organdies,  delaines,  lustres, 
flush-spot  gingham,  alpacas,  brocaded  silks  and  satinets. 

Mrs.  Paul,  milliner,  on  Berry  street,  opposite  the  Presbyterian 
church,  with  pardonable  pride  boasts  of  her  "Patent  Bonnet  Press, 
the  only  one  west  of  the  mountains."  She  can  at  any  time  turn, 
clean  and  alter  straw  and  Leghorn  hats.  She  also  has  "bonnet 
sprigs  and  slave  girdles."  Mrs.  Paul's  competitors  were  the  Misses 
Wells,  whose  fine  needlework  is  yet  well  remembered.  Bits  of 
their  handiwork  may  still  be  seen  in  delicate  old  lace  caps  and 
Quaker  bonnets.  They  did  much  sewing  for  the  gentry  of  the  day. 
One  famous  order  was  for  a  long  broadcloth  coat  for  "Queen  God- 
frey." As  wealth  increased  the  dandies  had  an  opportunity  to  try 
to  outshine  each  other.  At  the  "Fashionable  Emporium"  of  James 
M.  Blossom  could  be  found  "figured  satin,  silk  and  merino  stocks, 
cravats  and  scarfs,"  silk  and  linen  purses,  half  hose,  silk  and  com- 
mon suspenders,  super-ivory  dressing  combs  and  combs  of  buffalo 
horn.  At  the  old  rifle  shop  on  Main  street  (owned  by  Moses  Yer- 
ing)  there  was  a  fine  supply  of  guns,  rifles  and  pistols.  His  earliest 
advertisements  do  not  mention  revolvers,  so  probably  at  that  time 
Colonel  Colt's  invention  was  not  commonly  used  here. 

Soon  a  taste  for  imported  goods  crept  in.  Royal  W.  Taylor  ad- 
vertises children's  "French  coats  and  Egyptian  dresses,"  also  Honey- 
comb shawls.  Anyone  who  had  furs,  coon  skins,  deer  or  bear 
skins,  beeswax,  flaxseed,  or,  better  than  all  else,  "black  salts,"  could 
buy  many  wonderful  things.  The  cabinetmakers  were  busy,  for  a 
new  and  rapidly  growing  population  needed  new  furniture.  Joseph 
Johnson  announces  that  he  has  "on  Barr  street,  north  of  the  market 
house,  an  assortment  of  those  new  and  fashionable  articles,  Venetian 
window  blinds."  Special  advertisements  are  made  of  buffalo 
robes,  sperm  and  mould  candles,  candle  wicking,  fine  riding  whips, 
bed  cords,  sugar  kettles  and  one  curious  offer  of  "a  smut  mill 
cheap."     All  this  is  before  1850  and  the  advertisements  shift  with 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA. 


81 


customs  and  fashions,  for  later  the  purchaser  is  begged  to  call  and 
see  ''Balmoral  skirts,  hair  nets,  nubias  and  new  styles  in  hoop  skirts." 


AUNTIE   VANCE. 


She  was  " Auntie  Vance"  to  the  whole  village,  but  she  is  written 
among  the  charter  members  of  the  First  Presbyterian  church  Sal  lie 
C.  Vance.  Her  age  was  a  mystery,  about  which  she  allowed  no 
levity  and  no  discussion,  for  she  was  a  maiden  lady  of  the  old 
school.  She  was  also  the  self-appointed  censor  of  the  Presbyterian 
Sewing  Society.  This  society  met  every  other  week  at  the  homes 
of  members  to  sew  for  home  missionaries.  Before  the  sewing  day 
a  large  clothes  basket  holding  the  work  would  be  taken  to  the  house 
of  the  entertaining  member.  The  cutting,  basting  and  sewing  would 
continue  all  afternoon.  Just  before  "time  for  refreshments"  all 
completed  articles  had  to  pass  muster  beneath  Auntie  Vance's  sharp 
black  eyes.  And  woe  betide  the  hapless  needlewoman  who  did 
careless  work  or  put  long  stitches  in  the  pantalettes  or  pea  jacket  for 
the  missionary  child.  She  would  take  a  garment,  look  it  over, 
searching  "each  minute  and  unseen  part,"  and  if  satisfactory  it  had 
passed  muster.  But  if  unaccustomed  or  indifferent  hands  had  held 
the  needle  she  would  cry  out  scornfully,  "Look  at  that!"  and  the 
culprit  so  held  up  for  all  the  (sewing  society)  world  to  see  had  no 
appeal  from  the  decision,  "Rip  it  out  and  do  it  over."  She  used  the 
Christian  name  of  every  friend  and  acquaintance.  When  a  gracious 
and  lovely  hostess  said  to  her,  "Auntie  Vance,  isn't  your  tea  right? 
I  remembered  you  liked  it  strong,  and  I  put  in  an  extra  quantity," 
she  looked  severely  down  the  table  and  said,  "Susan,  when  one 
puts  extra  tea  in  the  pot,  one  is  bound  to  taste  it  in  the  cup."  Her 
minister  asked  how  she  liked  his  last  Sunday's  discourse.  She  an- 
swered, "Jonathan,  I  like  that  sermon  every  time  you  preach  it." 
She  was  a  church  regulator  of  undoubted  influence.  When  some 
one  suggested  an  increase  in  the  number  of  church  elders,  Auntie 
Vance  asked,  with  cutting  sarcasm,  "Yes,  the  church  needs  elders ! 
But  where  do  we  see  proper  timber  for  elders?"  The  timberless 
congregation  had  no  reply  ready. 


82  THE   MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 


CHAPTER  III 


ROSTER  OF  COUNTY  OFFICIALS. 


BY  GRAHAM  N.  BERRY. 


CIRCUIT  JUDGES. 

Bethuel  F.  Morris,  1824-1825;  Miles  C.  Eggleston,  1826-1829; 
Charles  H.  Test,  1830-1832;  Gustavus  H.  Evarts,  1833-1835 ;  Sam- 
uel C.  Sample,  1836;  Charles  W.  Ewing,  1837-1838;  Henry 
Chase,  1839;  John  W.  Wright,  1 840-1 841;  James  W.  Borden, 
1 842- 1 850;  Elza  A.  McMahon,  185 1- 1854;  James  L.  Worden, 
1855-1857;  Reuben  J.  Dawson  and  Edward  R.  Wilson,  1858-1863; 
Robert  Lowry,  1864- 1874;  W.  W.  Carson,  1875;  Edward 
O'Rourke,  1876  to  the  present  time. 

ASSOCIATE    JUDGES,    CIRCUIT    COURT. 

Samuel  Hanna,  1824-1827;  Benjamin  Cushman,  1824-1826; 
William  N.  Hood,  1827;  Benjamin  Cushman,  1828-1833;  L.  G. 
Thompson,  1831-1834;  William  G.  Ewing,  1834-1835;  David  Ran- 
kin, 1835-1836;  Peter  Huling,  1836-1837;  Michael  Shiras,  1837; 
N.  Coleman,  1838-1844;  M.  S.  Wines,  1838-18-40;  J.  H.  McMahon, 
1841-1846;  R.  Starkweather,  1845-1850;  Andrew  Metzger,  1847- 
185 1 ;  N.  Coleman,  185 1,  in  which  year  the  office  was  discontinued. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  83 

PROBATE   AND   COMMON    PLEAS    JUDGES. 

W.  G.  Ewing,  1830-1832;  Hugh  McCulloch,  1833-1835;  Thom- 
as Johnson,  1836;  Lucian  P.  Ferry,  1837-1839;  Reuben  J.  Dawson, 
1840;  Samuel  Stophlet,  1841-1844;  George  Johnson,  1845-1846; 
Nelson  McLain,  1 847-1852;  James  W.  Borden,  1853-1857;  Joseph 
Brackenridge,  1 858-1863;  James  W.  Borden,  1864-1867;  Robert 
S.  Taylor,  1867-1868;  David  Studebaker,  1868-1870;  William  W. 
Carson,  1871-1872;  Samuel  E.  Sinclair,  1872. 

CRIMINAL    JUDGES. 

Office  created  1867,  abolished  1884;  James  A.  Fay,  James  W. 
Borden,  Joseph  Brackenridge,  James  W.  Borden,  Warren  Withers, 
Samuel  M.  Hench. 

SUPERIOR   JUDGES. 

Office  created  1872;  Allen  Zollars,  Robert  Lowry,  James  L. 
Worden,  Lindley  M.  Ninde,  Samuel  M.  Hench,  Augustus  A.  Chapin, 
C.  M.  Dawson,  William  J.  Vesey,  John  Aiken  and  O.  N.  Heaton, 
the  present  incumbent. 

PROSECUTING  ATTORNEYS,   CIRCUIT   COURT. 

Calvin  Fletcher,  Amos  Lane,  Oliver  H.  Smith,  David  Wallace, 
Martin  M.  Ray,  James  Perry,  William  J.  Brown,  John  B.  Chap- 
man, Samuel  C.  Sample,  Joseph  L.  Jernegan,  Thomas  Johnson,  J. 
W.  Wright,  W.  Wright,  Lucian  P.  Ferry,  William  H.  Coombs,  L. 
C.  Jacoby,  R.  L.  Douglass,  Elza  A.  McMahon,  Joseph  Brackenridge, 
James  L.  Worden,  Edward  R.  Wilson,  S.  J.  Stoughton,  James  L. 
Defreese,  John  Colerick,  Aug.  A.  Chapin,  James  H.  Schell,  Thomas 
M.  Wilson,  Joseph  S.  Dailey,  J.  R.  Bittinger,  James  F.  Morrison, 
Charles  M.  Dawson,  James  M.  Robinson,  Philemon  B.  Colerick, 
Newton  B.  Doughman,  E.  V.  Emrick,  Ronald  Dawson. 

PROSECUTING  ATTORNEYS,  COMMON  PLEAS  COURT. 

This  office  was  created  in  the  year  1856,  the  first  one  elected 
being  David  Studebaker,  after  whom  it  was  filled  by  the  following 


84  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

gentlemen,  in  the  order  indicated,  namely:  Joseph  Brackenridge, 
William  R.  Smith,  John  Colerick,  Joseph  A.  France,  D.  T.  Smith, 
David  Colerick,  Joseph  S.  Dailey,  Benjamin  F.  Ibach,  J.  R.  Bittin- 
ger,  the  court  being  abolished  in  1873. 

PROSECUTING  ATTORNEYS,    CRIMINAL  COURT. 

This  office  was  created  in  1867,  during  a  part  of  which  year 
Robert  S.  Taylor  discharged  the  duties  of  the  office,  his  successor 
being  Edward  O'Rourke,  following  whom,  in  the  order  named,  were 
Joseph  S.  France,  Samuel  M.  Hench,  William  S.  O'Rourke. 

CLERKS    OF   THE    CIRCUIT    COURT. 

Anthony  L.  Davis,  1824-1829;  Robert  N.  Hood,  1830;  Allen 
Hamilton,  1831-1838;  Philip  G.  Jones,  1839-1843;  Robert  E. 
Fleming,  1844-1852;  Joseph  Sinclair,  1853  and  a  part  of  1854,  I. 
D.  G.  Nelson  succeeding  to  the  office  in  the  latter  year,  and  serving 
until  1862,  inclusive;  William  Fleming,  1863-1870;  William  S. 
Edsall,  1871-1874;  Frank  H.  Wolke,  1875-1878;  M.  V.  B.  Spencer, 
1879-1881;  Willis  D.  Maier,  1882-1885;  George  W.  Loag,  1886, 
died  in  office,  and  was  succeeded  by  J.  J.  Kern,  who  rilled  out  the 
unexpired  term;  D.  W.  Souder  served  from  1890  until  1894,  inclu- 
sive, being  succeeded  by  H.  M.  Metzgar,  whose  term  expired  in 
1898;  Frank  J.  Belot  held  the  office  from  the  latter  year  until  1902, 
when  he  was  succeeded  by  W.  A.  Johnson,  the  present  incumbent. 

AUDITORS. 

Anthony  L.  Davis,  1824-1829;  Robert  N.  Hood,  1830;  Allen 
Hamilton,  1831-1838;  Philip  G.  Jones,  1839-1840;  Samuel  S. 
Morss,  1841-1844;  Henry  W.  Jones,  1845-1849;  R.  Starkweather, 
1850-1856;  John  B.  Blue,  elected  in  1857,  served  only  a  part  of  the 
year,  being  succeeded  by  Francis  L.  Furste,  who  held  the  office  from 
1857  to  i860,  inclusive;  G.  F.  Stinchcomb,  1861-1864;  Henry  J. 
Rudisill,  1865-1872;  William  T.  Abbott,  1873-1876;  Martin  E. 
Argo,  1877-1881;  A.  L.  Griebel,  1882-1885;  John  B.  Niezer,  1886, 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA. 


85 


since  the  expiration  of  whose  term  the  position  has  been  held  suc- 
cessively by  the  following  individuals :  A.  F.  Glutting,  Clarence 
Edsall,  who  died  in  office,  L.  J.  Bobilya  being  appointed  to  fill  the 
vacancy;  William  Meyers,  resigned  before  expiration  of  his  term; 
G.  C.  A.  Ortlieb,  appointed  his  successor,  serving  until  1904,  when 
Dr.  J.  L.  Smith,  the  present  incumbent,  was  elected. 

TREASURERS. 

1824,  Joseph  Holman;  1825,  William  G.  Ewing;  1826,  Thomas 
Forsythe;  1827,  Thomas  Thorpe;  1829,  L.  G.  Thompson;  1832, 
Benjamin  Cushman ;  1833,  Joseph  Holman;  1834,  Thomas  W. 
Swinney;  1839,  Samuel  Hanna;  1840,  George  F.  Wright;  1841, 
Theodore  K.  Brackenridge ;  1847,  S.  M.  Black;  1850,  Thomas  D. 
Dekay;  1852,  Ochmig  Bird;  1856,  Alexander  Wiley;  i860,  Oliver 
R.  Jefferds;  1862,  Alexander  Wiley;  1866,  Henry  Monning;  1870, 
John  Ring;  1874,  Michael  Schmetzer;  1879,  John  M.  Taylor; 
1883,  John  Dalman;  1887,  Isaac  Mowrer;  1890,  Edward  Beckman; 
1894,  L.  C.  Hunter;  1898,  John  H.  Rohan;  1902,  Jacob  Funk. 

SHERIFFS. 

1824,  Allen  Hamilton;  1826,  Cyrus  Taber;  1827,  Abner  Ger- 
rard;  183 1,  David  Pickering;  1834,  Joseph  L.  Swinney;  1837,  John 
P.  Hedges;  1838,  Joseph  Berkley;  1842,  Brad  B.  Stevens;  1846. 
Samuel  S.  Morss;  1850,  William  H.  McDonald;  1854,  William  Mc- 
Mullin;  1855,  William  Fleming;  i860,  Joseph  A.  Strout;  1862, 
William  T.  Pratt;  1866,  John  McCartney;  1870,  Charles  A.  Zol- 
linger; 1873,  Joseph  D.  Hance;  1876,  Piatt  J.  Wise;  1878,  Charles 
A.  Munson;  1880,  Franklin  D.  Cosgrove;  1882,  William  D.  Schie- 
fer;  1884,  DeGroff  Nelson,  died  May  27,  1887,  succeeded  by  George 
H.  Viberg;  1891,  Edward  Cfausmeier;  1895,  Albert  Melching; 
1899,  George  W.  Stout;  1900,  Jesse  Grice,  elected  1904. 

RECORDERS. 

Anthony  L.  Davis,  Robert  N.  Hood,  Allen  Hamilton,  Robert 
Fleming,  Edward  Colerick,  Piatt  J.  Wise,  Clement  A.  Rekers,  John 


86  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

M.    Koch,    Joseph    Mommer,    Jr.,    Thomas    S.    Heller,    Milton   V. 
Thompson,  William  Reichelderfer,  Charles  M.  Gillett. 

SURVEYORS. 

The  first  surveyor  of  Allen  county  was  Reuben  J.  Dawson,  who 
took  the  office  in  1835,  and  served  two  years.  His  successors  in  the 
order  indicated  have  been  as  follows :  S.  M.  Black,  Henry  J.  Rudi- 
sill,  J.  M.  Wilt,  William  A.  Jackson,  William  McLaughlin,  J.  W. 
Mc Arthur,  Nathan  Butler,  J.  S.  Goshorn,  William  H.  Goshorn, 
D.  M.  Allen,  C.  B.  Wiley,  Henry  E.  Fisher,  O.  B.  Wiley,  C.  W. 
Branstrator,  John  A.  Bushman  and  David  Spindler. 

CORONERS. 

The  first  man  elected  to  this  office  in  Allen  county  was  C.  E. 
Goodrich,  who  entered  upon  his  duties  in  1852,  since  which  time 
the  position  has  been  filled  by  the  following  gentlemen :  John  John- 
son, W.  H.  McDonald,  John  P.  Waters,  Augustus  M.  Webb,  Wil- 
liam Gaffney,  K.  K.  Wheelock,  H.  F.  C.  Stellhorn,  A.  K.  Kessler, 
Morse  Harrod,  J.  H.  Cappel,  W.  W.  Barnett  and  J.  E.  Stults. 

COUNTY   SUPERINTENDENTS   OF   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS, 

This  office  was  created  in  1861,  and  the  first  superintend- 
ent was.  R.  D.  Robinson,  who  held  the  position  from  that  year 
until  1867,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Professor  James  H.  Smart, 
afterward  superintendent  of  the  schools  of  Fort  Wayne,  and  still 
later  state  superintendent  of  public  instruction  and  president  of  Pur- 
due University  at  Lafayette.  He  filled  the  office  till  1873,  and 
was  followed  by  J.  Hillegass,  who  held  the  position  by  successive  re- 
elections  from  the  latter  year  to  1885,  when  he, was  succeeded  by 
Flavius  J.  Young,  who  served  until  the  election  of  Professor  Henry 
G.  Felger,  the  present  incumbent,  in  1904. 

COUNTY  BOARD  OF  TRUSTEES  FOR  I905. 

F.  C.  W.  Klaehn,  Charles  Moehler,  G.  W.  Tonkel,  D.  W.  Baird, 
R.  J.  Mourey,  D.  B.  Nail,  J.  A.  Aiken,  H.  A.  Rockhill,  H.  F.  W. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  87 

Berning,  Ernest  Witte,  Charles  Kees,  J.  M.  Nuttle,  H.  S.  Jones,  E. 

E.  Dunten,  William  W.  Wilkie,  C.  G.  Vanderau,  A.  E.  Allen,  J.  H. 
Zimmerman,  J.  C.  Pfeiffer,  Cornelius  Garvin. 

COUNTY    COMMISSIONERS. 

First  district — William  Rockhill,  Nathan  Coleman,  Francis 
Alexander,  David  Archer,  Christian  Parker,  David  McQuiston, 
Robert  Briggs,  Nelson  McLain,  Rufus  McDonald,  William  M.  Par- 
ker, Noah  Clem,  Simeon  Biggs,  Henry  Dickerson,  John  Shaffer, 
William  Long,  John  Begue,  Frank  Gladio,  Henry  Hartman,  Jasper 
W.  Jones,  S.  F.  Baker,  A.  R.  Schnitker. 

Second  district — James  Wyman,  William  Caswell,  Abner  Ger- 
ard, Joseph  Burkey,  L.  S.  Bayless,  R.  Starkweather,  F.  D. 
Lasselle,  James  S.  Hamilton,  William  Robinson,  F.  D.  Lasselle 
(a  second  time),  Michael  Crow,  Byron  D.  Miner,  John  A.  Robinson, 
Jacob  Hillegass,  Jacob  Goeglein,  Jerome  D.  Gloyd,  H.  F.  Buller- 
man,  M.  A.  Ferguson,  M.  Mondy. 

Third  district — Francis  Comparet,  James  Holman,  Nathan 
Coleman,  John  Rogers,  Joseph  Townsend,  Horace  B.  Taylor,  Joseph 
Hall,  Zerue  Pattee,  Henry  Rudisill,  Peter  Parker,  William  T.  Daly, 
T.  M.  Andrews,  Isaac  Hall,  David  H.  Lipes,  John  C.  Davis,  Henry 
K.  Turner,  Timothy  Hogan,  William  Briant,  John  H.  Brannan,  H. 

F.  Stellhorn,  C.  E.  Off. 

The  board  of  commissioners  for  the  year  1905  consists  of 
Charles  Grebel,  Joseph  Tonkel  and  William  Hockemeyer. 

MEMBERS   OF   THE   GENERAL   ASSEMBLY. 

The  senatorial  district  of  which  Allen  county  first  formed  a  part 
was  composed  of  the  counties  of  Allen,  Wayne  and  Randolph,  and 
was  represented  in  1824-5  by  James  Raridan,  a  resident  of  Wayne 
county.  Amaziah  Morgan,  also  of  Wayne  county,  represented, 
from  1825  to  1829,  the  district  composed  of  the  counties  of  Allen, 
Rush,  Henry  and  Randolph,  Delaware  being  added  in  the  latter 
part  of  his  term.  In  1829  Daniel  Worth,  of  Randolph,  was  elected 
for  the  counties  of  Allen,  Randolph,  Delaware  and  Cass,  and  served 


88  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

until  1832,  during  which  time  the  district  was  changed,  first,  by  the 
addition  of  St.  Joseph  and  Elkhart  in  183 1,  and  then  by  the,  sub- 
stitution of  these  two  counties  for  the  county  of  Cass. 

For  the  last  described  district  Samuel  Hanna  was  elected  in 
1832,  serving  until  1834,  and  also  represented  for  one  term  the 
counties  of  Allen,  Wabash,  Huntington,  Elkhart,  Lagrange,  St. 
Joseph  and  Laporte,  the  same  district  being  represented  in  1835-6 
by  David  H.  Colerick,  of  Fort  Wayne,  during  whose  second  term, 
from  1836  to  1838,  the  district  was  reduced  to  Allen,  Wayne  and 
Adams. 

William  G.  Ewing,  of  Allen,  succeeded  Mr.  Colerick  in  1838, 
and  served  until  1841,  from  which  time  until  1844  the  district,  which 
had  been  increased  by  the  addition  of  Huntington  county,  was  rep- 
resented by  Joseph  Sinclair,  who  was  also  a  resident  of  Allen.  Wil- 
liam Rockhill,  of  Fort  Wayne,  represented  the  last  described  dis- 
trict from  1844  to  1847,  and  the  district  of  Allen,  Adams  and 
Wayne  being  renewed,  Franklin  P.  Randall  was  elected  in  1847. 
and  continued  to  represent  it  until  the  year  1850,  when  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Samuel  S.  Mickle,  who  served  till  1853.  '  From  1853  to 
1855  the  same  district  was  represented  by  Samuel  Edsall,  of  Allen, 
and  from  the  latter  year  until  1857  by  Samuel  L.  Rugg,  of  Adams 
county. 

At  the  next  election  Allen  was  created  a  senatorial  district  by 
itself,  and  Allen  Hamilton,  of  Fort  Wayne,  elected  in  1858  its 
representative,  serving  until  1863,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Pliny 
Hoagland,  who  served  from  the  latter  year  until  1865.  W.  W. 
Carson,  the  next  representative,  was  elected  in  1864,  entered  upon 
his  duties  the  year  following,  and  served  until  187 1,  his  associate 
the  latter  year  being  Ochmig  Bird,  whose  district  consisted  of  the 
counties  of  Allen  and  Adams.  Subsequent  representatives  were 
James  R.  Bobo,  joint,  Allen  and  Adams;  1872,  Ochmig  Bird,  John 
D.  Sarnighausen,  joint,  Allen  and  Adams;  1874,  Robert  C.  Bell, 
John  D.  Sarnighausen,  joint,  Allen,  Adams  and  Wells,  the  same 
parties  being  re-elected  in  1876;  in  1878  Thomas  J.  Foster  was 
elected  from  Allen,  and  Sarnighausen  re-elected  from  the  district 
above  described ;  1880,  Thomas  J.  Foster,  Robert  C.  Bell,  joint,  Al- 
len and  Whitley;  1882,  Lycurgus  S.  Null,  Foster  being  re-elected 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  89 

for  the  joint  district  of  Allen  and  Whitley  counties;  1884,  Null 
re-elected,  Eli  W.  Brown,  joint,  Allen  and  Whitley;  1886,  James 
M.  Barrett,  joint,  Isaiah  B.  McDonald;  1888,  Barrett  re-elected, 
joint,  Fred  J.  Hayden;  1890,  Joseph  D.  Morgan,  Hayden  re-elected 
from  joint  district;  1892,  Joseph  D.  Morgan,  joint,  Ochmig  Bird; 
1894,  Thomas  Emmet  Ellison,  Bird  re-elected;  1896,  Emmet  re- 
elected, joint,  Louis  J.  Bobilya;  1898,  George  V.  Kell,  joint,  Wil- 
liam Ryan  for  the  district  composed  of  Allen  and  Adams;  1900, 
Kell  re-elected,  joint,  Stephen  J.  Fleming;  1902,  Lew  V.  Ulery, 
Fleming  re-elected  for  joint  district;  1902,  Ulery  re-elected,  joint, 
John  W.  Tyndall. 

REPRESENTATIVES. 

From  1824  to  1828  the  counties  of  Randolph  and  Allen,  which 
at  that  time  embraced  a  large  part  of  Indiana,  were  united  in  a 
representative  district  and  were  first  represented  in  the  legislature 
by  Hon.  Daniel  Worth,  a  resident  of  the  last  named  county,  who 
served  during  the  session  of  1824,  being  succeeded  the  following 
year  by  Samuel  Hanna,  of  Fort  Wayne.  Mr.  Hanna,  who  proved 
an  able  and  judicious  lawmaker  and  one  of  the  leaders  of  his  party 
in  the  house,  represented  the  district  during  the  year  1826,  and 
was  then  followed  by  Mr.  Worth,  whose  second  term  began  in  the 
latter  year  and  continued  until  1828.  Anthony  L.  Davis  was  elect- 
ed in  1827,  to  represent  the  district  composed  of  the  counties  of 
Allen  and  Cass,  and  after  serving  one  year  was  succeeded  by  Joseph 
Holman,  who  held  the  office  from  1829  to  1830.  In  1830  Allen 
was  joined  to  the  counties  of  Elkhart  and  St.  Joseph  and  Samuel 
Hanna  chosen  representative,  and  in  1831  the  district  was  further 
enlarged  by  the  addition  of  Laporte  and  Lagrange  counties,  George 
Crawford,  of  Allen,  being  elected  the  latter  year,  his  term  expiring 
in  1832.  David  H.  Colerick  represented  the  same  district  from 
1832  to  1838,  at  which  time  the  district  comprising  Allen  and  Hunt- 
ington counties  was  created,  William  Rockhill  being  elected  to  rep- 
resent them  and  serving  until  1834,  when  he  was  succeeded  by 
Lewis  G.  Thompson,  since  the  expiration  of  whose  term  in  1835 
the  county  has  had  one  or  more  representatives  independ- 
ently,   as    follows:     1835,   William    Rockhill;     1836-1839,    Lewis 


90  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

G.  Thompson;  1839- 1840,  Samuel  Hanna;  1 840-1 841,  Mar- 
shall S.  Wines;  1841-1842,  Lewis  G.  Thompson;  1842- 
1843,  Lucian  P.  Ferry;  1843-1844,  Samuel  Stophlet;  1844- 
1846,  Christian  Parker;  1846- 1848,  Peter  Kiser;  1848- 1850,  Och- 
mig  Bird;  1850-1853,  I.  D.  G.  Nelson;  1853-1855,  Francis  D.  Las- 
selle;  1855-1857,  Charles  E.  Sturgis;  1857-1858,  Pliny  Hoagland; 
1858-1861,  Nelson  McLain  and  Schuyler  Wheeler;  1861-1863, 
Moses  Jenkinson  and  Conrad  Trier;  1863-1867,  Ochmig  Bird  and 
John  P.  ShoafT;  1 867-1868,  John  P.  ShoafT  and  Peter  Kiser;  1868- 
187 1,  Allen  Zollars  and  B.  B.  Miner;  187 1- 1872,  Robert  Taylor  and 
Jacob  S.  Shutt;  1872- 1875,  Jefferson  Bowser  and  Mahlon  Heller; 
1875-1877,  Mahlon  Heller  and  Patrick  Horn;  1877-1879,  Thomas 
J.  Foster  and  Charles  B.  Austin;  1879-188 1,  Elihu  Reichelderfer 
and  Oliver  E.  Fleming;  1881,  Lycurgus  S.  Null,  Hiram  C.  Mc- 
Donald, Samuel  E.  Sinclair;  1883,  Albert  W.  Brooks,  Joseph  D. 
McHenry,  Erastus  L.  Chittenden;  1885,  Albert  W.  Brooks,  Joseph 
D.  McHenry,  Fred  J.  Hayden;  1887,  William  H.  Shambaugh, 
Austin  M.  Darrach,  joint,  Benjamin  F.  Ibach;  1889.  William  H. 
Shambaugh,  Francis  Gladio,  joint,  William  A.  Oppenheim;  1890, 
Samuel  M.  Hench,  William  S.  Oppenheim,  joint,  Allen  and  Hunt- 
ington; 1892,  Charles  Dalman,  Samuel  M.  Hench,  J.  F.  Roda- 
baugh;  1894,  Louis  J.  Bobilya,  Charles  Dalman,  George  V.  Kell; 
1896,  George  V.  Kell,  H.  I.  Smith,  William  C.  Ryan,  joint,  Allen  and 
Huntington;  1898,  George  B.  Lawrence,  Robert  B.  Shirley;  1900, 
Charles  L.  Drummond,  George  B.  Lawrence,  George  W.  Louttit; 
1902,  Michael  Sheridan,  Herbert  L.  Somers,  William  S.  Wells;  1904, 
Thomas  Martin  Geake,  Joseph  P.  Pichon,  Walter  Hood. 

MISCELLANEOUS    OFFICIALS,    RESIDENTS    OF    ALLEN    COUNTY. 

General  John  Tipton,  an  early  resident  and  distinguished  citizen 
of  Fort  Wayne,  was  appointed  in  1824  one  of  the  commissioners  to 
locate  the  site  of  the  state  capital,  Indianapolis  being  selected.  Prior 
to  that  year  he  was  a  member  of  the  commission  appointed  by  the 
state  of  Indiana  to  act  in  concert  with  a  like  commission  on  the 
part  of  Illinois  in  the  surveying  and  locating  of  the  boundary  line 
between  the  two  states. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  91 

Receivers  of  the  Land  Office — Joseph  Holman,  1823-1829;  John 
Spencer,  date  not  recorded;  Daniel  Reed,  1838-1841 ;  Major  Sam- 
uel Lewis,  1841;  I.  D.  G.  Nelson,  1841. 

Registers  of  Land  Office — Mr.  Vance,  1823-1829;  Robert 
Brackenridge,  Sr.,  1829;  James  W.  Borden,  1838-1841 ;  William 
Polke,  1 84 1 ;  W.  S.  Edsall,  some  time  in  the  '40s. 

Hon.  James  W.  Borden,  of  Fort  Wayne,  served  as  senatorial 
delegate  to  the  state  constitutional  convention  in  1851,  and  from 
1857  to  1861  represented  the  United  States  as  minister  resident  to 
Honolulu,  Sandwich  islands, 

Hon.  Allen  Hamilton  was  representative  delegate  to  the  consti- 
tutional convention  in  185 1,  from  Allen  county. 

Hon.  Hugh  McCulloch,  one  of  the  leading  citizens  of  Fort 
Wayne  and  for  many  years  one  of  the  nation's  distinguished  finan- 
ciers, served  as  secretary  of  the  United  States  treasury  from  1865 
to  1869. 

Isaac  Jenkinson  served  as  presidential  elector  in  i860,  and  was 
United  States  consul  at  Glasgow,  Scotland,  from  1869  to  1874. 

Neil  McLachlan  served  in  a  similar  capacity  at  Leith,  Scotland, 
from   186 1  to  1866. 

Hon.  James  L.  Worden  was  appointed  judge  of  the  supreme 
court  of  Indiana,  in  January,  1858,  elected  in  October  of  the  same 
year,  and  served  until  1865;  again  elected  in  1870,  and  a  third  time 
in  1876,  each  term  for  seven  years. 

Solomon  D.  Bayless  served  as  pension  agent  from  1862  to  1868. 

Warren  H.  Withers  was  collector  of  internal  revenue  from  1862 
to  1868,  being  succeeded  in  the  latter  year  by  George  Moore,  also 
a  resident  of  Fort  Wayne. 

William  T.  Pratt,  from  1875  to  1877,  was  director  of  the  north- 
ern penitentiary  at  Michigan  City. 

Isaac  D.  G.  Nelson  was  a  member  of  the  board  of  state  house 
commissioners  from  1877  to  1880,  and  served  as  president  of  the 
State  Horticultural  Society  and  vice-president  of  the  United  States 
Pomological  Society. 

F.  P.  Randall  served  as  presidential  elector  in  1856,  and  from 
1856  to  1859  was  director  of  the  southern  prison  at  Jeffersonville, 
besides  holding  other  high  official  positions. 


92  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

Hon.  Jesse  L.  Williams,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  civil  en- 
gineers in  the  United  States,  was  chief  engineer  of  the  Wabash  and 
Erie  canal,  and  for  a  number  of  years  government  director  of  the 
Union  Pacific  Railroad. 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing,  Allen  county  has  furnished  other 
men  of  distinguished  ability  for  positions  of  honor  and  trust,  not- 
able among  whom  were  the  following :  Hon.  A.  P.  Edgerton,  mem- 
ber of  the  civil  service  commission  during  the  first  term  of  President 
Cleveland ;  Hon.  R.  S.  Taylor  was  for  a  number  of  years  a  member 
of  the  Mississippi  river  commission;  Colonel  Robert  S.  Robertson 
served  on  the  national  Utah  commission,  and  was  also  lieutenant- 
governor  of  Indiana;  Samuel  E.  Morss  was  United  States  consul 
to  Paris;  Hon.  John  Morris  served  on  the  supreme  bench  of  Indi- 
ana; Professor  W.  H.  Diederich  was  United  States  consul  to  Leip- 
sic,  Germany,  and  is  now  serving  in  a  similar  capacity  in  another 
city  of  that  country;  Hon.  S.  M.  Hench,  of  Fort  Wayne,  served  as 
auditor  of  the  war  department  during  the  first  administration  of 
President  Cleveland,  and  Benjamin  F.  Harper,  also  an  honored  resi- 
dent of  the  city,  has  but  recently  been  appointed  an  auditor  in  the 
same  branch  of  the  government. 

The  following  residents  of  Allen  county  have  at  different  times 
represented  this  district  in  the  congress  of  the  United  States  :  Hons. 
Walpole  G.  Colerick,  Robert  Lowry,  James  B.  White,  A.  H.  Hamil- 
ton, Charles  Chase,  Joseph  K.  Edgerton,  Charles  Brenton,  James 
M.  Robinson  and  Newton  Gilbert;  the  last  named  was  also  lieuten- 
ant-governor of  Indiana  prior  to  his  election  to  the  national  house 
of  representatives. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  93 


CHAPTER  IV 


MUNICIPAL  MATTERS. 


BY  GRAHAM  N.  BERRY. 


ORIGINAL   PLATS. 

The  prominence  of  Fort  Wayne  as  a  military  post  early  at- 
tracted attention  to  northeastern  Indiana,  and  a  number  of  years 
before  the  land  was  opened  for  settlement  pioneers  began  to  arrive 
singly  and  in  families,  and  it  was  not  long  until  the  place  became 
the  nucleus  of  a  thriving  village,  around  which  improvements  were 
also  made  by  those  who  looked  forward  to  becoming  possessors  of 
the  soil. 

In  the  summer  of  1822  a  land  office  was  located  at  the  fort,  and 
the  first  business  transacted  by  the  agent  was  the  selling  of  the  land 
immediately  surrounding  the  enclosure  to  John  T.  Barr  and  John 
McCorkle,  who,  in  August  of  the  same  year,  laid  out  the  original 
plat  of  Fort  Wayne,  the  lines  being  run  by  Robert  Young,  of  Piqua, 
Ohio,  of  which  place  Mr.  McCorkle  was  also  a  resident. 

This  plat,  which  was  first  recorded  in  the  office  of  the  recorder 
of  Randolph  county,  at  Winchester,  on  August  16,  1833,  and  sub- 
sequently at  Fort  Wayne  in  recorder's  book  "A"  of  the  records  of 
Allen  county,  shows  one  hundred  and  eighteen  lots,  with  three 
streets  running  north  and  south  on  a  variation  of  thirty  degrees 


94  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

thirty  minutes  west  of  magnetic  north,  namely:  Calhoun,  Clinton 
and  Barr,  and  five  at  right  angles  to  the  same  variation,  designated 
as  Wayne,  Berry,  Main,  Columbia  and  Water  streets,  a  public  square 
being  also  laid  off  in  the  plat,  with  Court  street  as  its  eastern  boun- 
dary. With  the  exception  of  Water  street,  which  has  since  been 
changed  to  Superior,  the  above  streets  retain  the  names  given  them 
in  the  original  plat. 

The  first  addition  to  the  town  was  the  county  addition,  con- 
sisting of  seventy  lots,  which  was  laid  out  by  the  commissioners  and 
recorded  on  August  16,  1833,  in  Record  "A;"  its  position  is  imme- 
diately east  of  and  adjoining  the  original  plat,  the  lots  lying  on  either 
side  of  Lafayette  street,  between  Berry  street  and  the  St.  Mary's 
river,  and  continuing  Water,  Columbia,  Main  and  Berry  streets 
from  the  original  site.  A  third  addition  of  forty  lots  was  made  a 
little  later  by  Cyrus  Taber,  which  included  all  of  the  military  tract 
lying  between  the  south  boundary  of  said  tract  and  the  canal,  Main 
and  Berry  streets  being  continued  through  from  the  county  addition. 
The  remainder  of  the  fort  reservation,  which  with  other  lands 
had  been  set  apart  by  an  act  of  congress  for  the  benefit  of  the  Wa- 
bash and  Erie  canal,  was  subsequently  sold  at  public  auction  in  the 
town  of  Logansport. 

Ewing's  addition,  laid  off  by  G.  W.  and  W.  G.  Ewing,  contains 
thirty-four  blocks  or  fractional  blocks  of  two  hundred  and  seventy- 
eight  lots,  with  Cass,  Ewing  and  Fulton  streets  running  north  on  a 
magnetic  bearing  of  fifteen  degrees  thirty  minutes  west,  Jefferson, 
Washington,  Wayne,  Berry,  Main  and  Pearl  streets  being  continued 
west  from  the  original  survey.  Lewis  street,  which  is  shown  in  this 
addition,  lies  south  of  Jefferson,  and  was  the  first  street  to  be  estab- 
lished running  due  east  and  west. 

Hanna's  first  addition,  made  by  Judge  Samuel  Hanna,  contains 
two  hundred  and  twenty-nine  lots,  and  streets  as  follows :  Clinton, 
Barr,  Clay,  Monroe  and  Hanna,  which  were  laid  out  on  a  magnetic 
bearing  of  north  fifteen  degrees  thirty  minutes  west ;  Wayne,  Wash- 
ington and  Jefferson  were  continued  west,  while  Madison  street 
was  laid  out  north  of  and  parallel  with  Jefferson,  and  running  east 
from  Barr.  Rockhill's  addition,  which  includes  a  large  section  of 
the  city  west  of  Broadway,  was  the  next  addition  of  importance, 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  95 

containing  one  hundred  and  eighty-two  lots  and  fractional  lots  and 
extending  north  to  the  canal  on  both  sides  of  Market  street  (now 
Broadway),  between  Main  and  Berry  streets,  a  space  being  left  for 
a  public  market. 

MUNICIPAL    INCORPORATION. 

In  1829,  when  Fort  Wayne  had  made  considerable  progress  in 
improvements  and  the  accumulation  incident  to  a  new  place  so 
eligibly  situated  gave  it  many  of  the  elements  of  prosperous  growth, 
the  citizens  began  to  agitate  the  matter  of  incorporating  the  town 
and  establishing  a  municipal  government  that  should  afford  them 
the  privileges  and  protection  which  they  demanded.  To  obtain  an 
expression  of  the  public  relative  to  the  matter,  a  meeting  of  the 
citizens  was  held  on  September  7th  of  the  above  year,  in  which  the 
proposition  was  thoroughly  considered  and  discussed,  with  the  re- 
sult that  the  majority  present  were  decidedly  in  favor  of  incorporat- 
ing, as  the  following  certificate  attests : 

I  do  hereby  certify  that  at  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  the  town  of  Fort 
Wayne,  on  Monday,  September  7th,  Anno  Domino  one  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  twenty-nine,  there  was  a  majority  of  two-thirds  of  the  persons 
present  in  favor  of  incorporating  the  town  of  Port  Wayne  in  the  county  of 
Allen,  and  state  of  Indiana 
Attest:  William  N.  Hood,   [Seal] 

John  P.  Hedges,  President  of  said  meeting. 

Clerk  of  said  meeting.  > 

In  furtherance  of  the  object  contemplated,  an  election  for  town 
officers  was  held  on  the  14th  day  of  the  same  month,  which  resulted 
in  the  choice  of  the  following,  as  set  forth  in  the  accompanying  cer- 
tificate : 

At  an  election  held  in  the  town  of  Fort  Wayne,  Allen  county,  Indiana, 
at  the  house  of  Abner  Gerard,  Esq.,  in  said  town,  on  Monday,  the  14th  day 
of  September,  Anno  Domino  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-nine,  we,  the 
president  and  clerk  of  said  election,  do  hereby  certify  that  Hugh  Hanna, 
John  S.  Archer,  William  G.  Ewing,  Lewis  G.  Thompson  and  John  P.  Hedges 
were  duly  elected  trustees  for  one  year  ensuing,  and  until  their  successors 
shall  be  elected  and  qualified. 

Given  under  our  hands  this  26th  day  of  November,  1829. 
Attest:  Benjamin  Archer, 

John  P.  Hedges,  President  of  said  election. 

Clerk  of  P.  election. 


96  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

These  officials  at  once  qualified  and  set  the  municipal  machinery 
in  motion,  pursuant  to  the  law  governing  such  incorporation,  and  in 
due  time  the  wisdom  of  the  action  of  the  people  was  justified  in  a 
much  better  and  more  satisfactory  condition  of  affairs  in  the  town 
than  had  before  obtained.  Of  the  early  town  government,  however, 
little  need  be  said,  as  it  was  similar  in  most  respects  to  nearly  all 
new  municipalities,  and  required  too  great  effort  on  the  part  of  the 
board  of  trustees  to  manage  and  satisfactorily  adjust  such  matters 
as  came  before  them.  For  some  years  the  town  funds  were  scarce, 
and  as  a  consequence  public  improvements  of  all  kinds  received  but 
scant  encouragement.  Population  continued  to  increase,  however, 
and  with  the  rapid  growth  of  the  town  and  the  publicity  of  its  ad- 
vantages as  a  business  center  for  a  large  area  of  country,  new  condi- 
tions were  created  which  the  municipal  government  was  not  able  to 
meet;  accordingly,  the  subject  of  a  city  charter  with  appropriate 
corporate  powers  began  to  be  matters  of  frequent  and  earnest  dis- 
cussion. As  a  legitimate  result  of  this  agitation,  it  was  finally  de- 
cided to  adopt  a  more  stable  and  satisfactory  form  of  government, 
the  charter  for  which  was  written  by  Hon.  Franklin  P.  Randall,  and 
submitted  to  the  general  assembly  of  the  state  at  its  session  of 
1839-40,  being  passed  on  February  22d  of  the  latter  year.  It  provided 
for  the  incorporation  of  the  city  of  Fort  Wayne  and  for  the  election 
by  the  people  of  a  president,  or  mayor,  six  members  to  constitute  a 
board  of  trustees,  or  common  council,  and  for  the  election  of  general 
officers  by  the  board,  or  council. 

EARLY  OFFICIALS. 

The  first  election  under  the  new  government,  held  in  the  year 
1840,  resulted  in  the  choice  of  the  following  gentlemen  to  fill  the 
various  offices :  Mayor,  George  W.  Wood ;  recorder,  F.  P.  Ran- 
dall, who  also  discharged  the  duties  of  city  attorney;  treasurer. 
George  F.  Wright;  high  constable,  Samuel  S.  Morss,  who  was  also 
appointed  collector  for  the  municipality  (resigned  January  15,  1840. 
and  was  succeeded  the  same  day  by  Joseph  Berkley,  who  filled  the 
unexpired  term)  ;  assessor,  Robert  E.  Fleming;  marketmaster, 
James  Post;  street  commissioner,  Joseph  H.  McCracken;  chief  en- 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  97 

gineer,  Samuel  Edsall ;  lumber  measurer,  John  B.  Cocanour.  The 
first  common  council  consisted  of  William  Rockhill,  Thomas  Ham- 
ilton (resigned  May  6,  1840,  succeeded  by  Joseph  Hill),  Madison 
Sweetser  (resigned  May  6,  1840,  Joseph  Morgan  being  appointed 
to  the  vacancy),  Samuel  Edsall,  William  S.  Edsall  and  William  D. 
Moon. 

During  the  year  1841  George  W.  Wood  was  continued  as  may- 
or and  F.  P.  Randall  as  recorder,  the  council  being  composed  of  the 
following  gentlemen :  H.  T.  Dewey,  Henry  Sharp,  Charles  G. 
French,  Philo  Rumsey,  A.  S.  Johns  and  William  M.  Moon.  The 
office  of  flour  inspector  was  created  by  the  council  in  the  latter  year, 
and  Daniel  McGinnis  chosen  to  discharge  the  duties  of  the  same. 

In  1842  Joseph  Morgan  was  elected  mayor,  and  served  as  such 
one  term;  William  Lytle  was  elected  recorder,  and  the  council  for 
that  year  consisted  of  H.  T.  Dewey,  Henry  Cooper,  Joseph  Scott, 
Philo  Rumsey,  Henry  Sharp  and  William  L.  Moon.  The  records 
of  1842  show  that  a  board  of  health  was  appointed,  the  following 
physicians  composing  its  personnel,  namely:  H.  P.  Ayers,  Charles 
Schmitz  and  Lewis  Beecher. 

During  the  year  1843  Henry  Lotz  served  as  the  city's  chief 
executive,  Mr.  Lytle  succeeded  himself  as  recorder  and  the  offices  of 
flour  inspector,  lumber  measurer  and  marketmaster  were  vacated. 
The  following  year  Mr.  Lotz  became  his  own  successor,  but  for 
some  reason,  which  the  record  does  not  state,  failed  to  give  satis- 
faction, as  he  was  discharged  from  the  office  of  mayor  on  July  1, 
1844,  tne  vacancy  being  filled  by  John  M.  Wallace.  William  Lytle, 
who  was  re-elected  recorder,  resigned  the  position  on  the  5th  of 
May,  at  which  time  Robert  Lowry  was  appointed  to  fill  out  the  un- 
expired term. 

The  council  of  1844  consisted  of  Morgan  Lewis,  Samuel  H. 
Shoaff,  Henry  Williams,  Cleves  D.  Silver,  John  Cochrane,  John 
B.  Dubois  and  S.  M.  Black,  the  last  named  filling  the  vacancy  caused 
by  the  resignation  of  Morgan  Lewis,  who  retired  from  the  body  on 
August  26th. 

John  M.  Wallace  was  duly  elected  mayor  in  the  spring  of  1845, 
but  resigned  on  May  8th  of  the  year  following,  being  succeeded 
by  M.  W.  Huxford,  who  discharged  the  duties  of  the  office  until 

7 


98  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

the  next  regular  election.  S.  M.  Black,  Philo  Rumsey,  H.  W.  Jones, 
James  Humphrey,  Charles  Paige  and  John  Dubois  were  councilmen 
for  the  year  1845,  the  other  offices  being  filled  as  follows:  Treas- 
urer, O.  W.  Jefferds;  high  constable,  W.  B.  Wilkinson;  attorney, 
John  W.  Dawson;  collector,  W.  B.  Wilkinson;  assessor,  William 
H.  Prince. 

In  the  year  1850,  which  marks  the  first  decade  of  Fort  Wayne 
under  a  city  government,  William  Stewart  was  elected  mayor;  O. 
P.  Morgan,  recorder;  William  W.  Carson,  attorney;  Henry  R. 
Colerick,  assessor,  and  the  following  gentlemen  as  councilmen :  A. 
M.  Mcjunkin,  C.  Anderson,  Henry  Sharp,  James  Humphrey,  W. 
H.  Briant  and  B.  W.  Oakley. 

By  an  act  of  the  general  assembly,  approved  February  8,  185 1, 
the  city  charter  was  amended  so  as  to  abolish  the  offices  of  treas- 
urer, assessor,  collector  and  recorder,  making  it  the  duty  of  the 
mayor  to  perform  the  functions  of  recorder,  and  transferring  the 
duties  of  treasurer,  assessor  and  collector  to  the  proper  officials  of  the 
county.  Section  7  of  said  amendment  also  provided  for  the 
annual  election  of  mayor  and  high  constable,  which  positions  that 
year  were  held  by  William  Stewart  and  Morris  Cody,  the  other  offi- 
cials being  T.  D.  DeKay,  treasurer ;  W.  W.  Carson,  attorney ;  Mor- 
ris Cody  and  Benjamin  Tower,  street  commissioners. 

The  office  of  wood  measurer  was  created  in  1843,  and  the  first 
to  fill  the  same  was  Washington  DeKay.  In  that  year  also  appears 
the  names  of  the  first  board  of  school  trustees,  as  follows :  Hugh 
McCulloch,  Charles  Case  and  William  Stewart.  The  year  following 
the  office  of  city  treasurer  was  resumed  and  the  office  of  sealer  of 
weights  and  measures  created,  the  first  to  fill  the  latter  being  D.  W. 
Burroughs,  who  is  said  to  have  proven  a  most  faithful  and  capable 
public  servant. 

An  act  of  the  general  assembly  of  1854,  amending  the  charter 
of  the  city,  provided  for  the  election,  on  the  second  Tuesday  of 
March  of  each  year,  of  a  mayor,  who  should  be  presiding  officer  of 
the  council,  a  clerk,  treasurer,  assessor,  street  commissioner,  marshal 
and  two  councilmen  from  each  ward,  who  shall  severally  hold  their 
offices  for  a  period  of  one  year.  Among  the  first  officers  elected  un- 
der the  charter  as  amended  were  Charles  Whitmore,  mayor ;  W.  E. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  99 

Ellis,  clerk,  and  Charles  Muhler,  treasurer,  the  second  named  gen- 
tleman appearing  to  have  been  unfaithful  to  his  trust,  as  he  misap- 
propriated the  funds  in  his  possession  to  a  considerable  amount,  and, 
to  escape  arrest  and  prosecution,  absconded,  leaving  his  bondsmen  to 
make  good  the  deficit.  By  reason  of  his  sudden  and  unceremonious 
departure,  the  council,  on  July  29,  1844,  declared  his  office  vacant, 
but  on  the  23d  of  the  following  month  A.  J.  Emerick  was  elected 
to  fill  out  the  unexpired  term,  which  he  did  with  credit  to  himself 
and  the  satisfaction  of  the  public. 

By  a  subsequent  act,  which  went  into  effect  in  1861,  it  was  pro- 
vided that  all  the  city  officers  should  thereafter  be  elected  for  two 
years  instead  of  one,  and  that  the  two  councilmen  from  each  ward 
should  determine  by  lot  as  to  which  should  hold  the  long  and  short 
terms.  Under  the  act  there  was  elected  for  the  years  1861  and  1862 
the  following  list  of  officers :  F.  P.  Randall,  mayor ;  L.  T.  Bourie, 
clerk;  Patrick  McGee,  marshal;  H.  N.  Putnam,  treasurer;  William 
S.  Smith,  attorney;  Henry  Tons,  street  commissioner;  O.  D.  Hurd, 
chief  engineer;  O.  Bird,  civil  engineer;  J.  S.  Leach,  marketmaster ; 
Joseph  Price,  sealer  of  weights  and  measures.  The  council,  which 
is  said  to  have  been  an  exceptionally  able  body,  was  composed  of 
the  following  members :  John  Burt,  Daniel  Nestle,  Benjamin 
Tower,  B.  H.  Kimball,  James  Humphrey,  Morris  Cody,  Edward 
Slocum,  C.  D.  Piepenbrink,  B.  D.  Miner  and  John  Harrington. 

CORPORATION    SEAL. 

The  seal  of  Fort  Wayne  was  designed  about  the  year  1858  by 
Hon.  Franklin  P.  Randall.  It  bears  upon  its  face  a  pair  of  scales, 
beneath  which  are  a  sword  and  Mercury's  wand  inverted,  crossing 
at  their  points.  Above  the  scales,  in  a  semi-circle,  is  the  word 
Kekionga,  the  Indian  name  of  Fort  Wayne,  and  around  the  outside 
edge  are  the  words  "City  of  Fort  Wayne."  The  design  is  beautiful 
and  in  good  taste,  and  its  appropriateness  as  a  seal  has  seldom,  if 
ever,  been  the  subject  of  criticism, 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  review  to  present  in  detail  the  prog- 
ress of  Fort  Wayne's  municipal  affairs,  nor  to  attempt  any  but  a 
very  brief  outline  of  the  leading  facts  under  this  head  during  the 


ioo  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

early  history  of  the  city,  as  anything  further  would  not  only  be  un- 
interesting to  the  reader,  but  would  far  transcend  the  limits  of  space 
usually  accorded  subjects  of  this  character.  Suffice  it  to  state,  how- 
ever, that  with  very  few  exceptions  the  management  of  the  city  from 
the  beginning  has  been  intrusted  to  broad-minded,  practical  and 
eminently  capable  men — men  selected  for  their  public  spirit  and 
efficiency,  and  who,  appreciating  their  obligations  to  the  people,  have 
endeavored  by  every  means  at  their  command  to  discharge  their 
duty,  losing  sight  of  self  and  self-interests  in  the  desire  to  prove 
worthy  of  the  honors  conferred  upon  them  and  the  important  trusts 
reposed  in  them  by  their  fellow-citizens. 

MAYORS. 

Hon.  George  W.  Wood  was  twice  elected  mayor,  but  resigned 
the  office  July  5,  1841,  with  a  record  above  the  shadow  of  suspicion. 
Joseph  Morgan  served  from  1842  to  1843,  an^  was  succeeded  by 
Henry  Lotz,  who  held  the  office  two  terms.  John  M.  Wallace  served 
one  term,  M.  W.  Huxford,  three  terms,  after  whom  came  William 
Stewart,  who  filled  the  position,  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  concerned, 
for  a  period  of  five  terms.  Subsequently  the  following  well-known 
gentlemen  were  selected  to  the  office  from  time  to  time,  namely: 
P.  G.  Jones,  Charles  Whitmore  (two  terms),  Samuel  S.  Morss  (two 
terms),  Franklin  P.  Randall,  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  public- 
spirited  of  the  city's  executives  (five  terms),  James  L.  Worden, 
Henry  Sharp,  C.  A.  Zollinger,  than  whom  a  more  popular  and  effi- 
cient public  servant  never  held  the  office  (five  consecutive  terms), 
Charles  F.  Muhler  (two  terms),  Daniel  Harding,  the  last  named 
being  succeeded  by  C.  A.  Zollinger,  whom  the  people  continued  in 
the  office  from  189 1  to  1894.  Chauncey  B.  Oakley  served  from 
1894  to  1896,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Henry  P.  Scherer,  whose 
period  of  service  was  from  the  year  last  named  until  May,  1901, 
when  Henry  Berghoff,  the  present  incumbent,  was  elected. 

TREASURERS. 

The  following  is  a  complete  list  of  the  gentlemen  to  whom  have 
been  entrusted  the  management  of  the  city's  finances  since  the  year 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  101 

1840:  George  F.  Wright,  Oliver  W.  Jefferds,  Oliver  P.  Morgan, 
N.  P.  Stockbridge,  T.  DeKay,  who  was  elected  county  treasurer  in 
185 1,  and,  in  addition  to  his  duties  as  such,  had  charge  of  the  city's 
monetary  affairs  from  that  time  until  1854,  when  Charles  Muhler 
was  elected  city  treasurer.  Following  the  last  named  were  C.  A. 
Rekers,  Conrad  Nill,  W.  H.  Link,  William  Stewart,  H.  N.  Putnam, 
John  Conger,  C.  Piepenbrink,  John  A.  Droegemeyer,  Charles  M. 
Barton,  Henry  C.  Berghoff,  Charles  J.  Sosenheimer,  James  H. 
Simonson,  during  whose  administration  the  name  of  the  office  was 
changed  from  treasurer  to  that  of  comptroller,  by  which  it  has  since 
been  designated.  Henry  C.  Berghoff  was  elected  to  succeed  the 
last  named  gentleman,  and  served  until  the  present  incumbent,  James 
V.  Fox,  took  the  office. 

CITY  ATTORNEYS. 

The  first  lawyer  elected  to  look  after  Fort  Wayne's  interests  was 
Hon.  Franklin  P.  Randall,  for  many  years  a  leading  member  of  the 
local  bar  and  one  of  the  city's  most  energetic  and  public-spirited 
men  of  affairs.  He  discharged  the  duties  of  the  position  with  the 
object  of  benefiting  the  city,  and  not  for  his  own  financial  or  pro- 
fessional advancement,  and  left  the  impress  of  his  strong  person- 
ality upon  the  community  by  the  effective  manner  in  which  he  dis- 
posed of  all  matters  submitted  to  him  for  consideration.  Untiring 
in  his  efforts  to  promote  the  welfare  of  the  municipality,  he  left 
nothing  undone  in  the  way  of  directing  it  along  proper  legal  lines, 
and  in  this  respect  his  labors  were  taken  up  and  ably  carried  on  by 
his  several  successors,  among  whom  were  a  number  of  men  who 
gained  reputations  far  beyond  the  limits  of  the  field  to  which  the 
greater  part  of  their  practice  was  confined.  The  immediate  suc- 
cessor of  Mr.  Randall  was  Henry  Cooper,  who,  like  the  former, 
achieved  an  honorable  record,  not  only  as  city  attorney,  but  in  the 
wider  sphere  of  practice  to  which  his  subsequent  life  was  devoted. 

The  next  in  order  was  Lucian  P.  Ferry,  after  whom  came  Sam- 
uel Bigger,  a  gentleman  of  much  more  than  local  reputation  in  legal 
and  political  circles,  as  is  attested  by  his  prominence  in  public  af- 
fairs in  later  years,  especially  as  governor  of  Indiana. 


102  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

John  W.  Dawson,  whose  name  is  second  to  that  of  few  of  Allen 
county's  attorneys,  was  the  next  to  fill  the  office,  his  successor  being 
William  W.  Carson,  who  took  an  active  and  influential  part  in 
starting  Fort  Wayne  upon  the  upward  course  which  characterized 
its  subsequent  growth  and  progress. 

The  confidence  reposed  in  F.  P.  Randall  induced  the  people  of 
the  city  again  to  elect  him  attorney,  and  as  such  he  served  with  his 
characteristic  ability  and  success  until  succeeded  by  Charles  Case,  in 
whose  hands  the  interests  of  the  public  were  faithfully  and  capably 
managed.  His  term  expiring,  William  W.  Carson  was  induced  to 
accept  the  position  a  second  time,  but  longer  than  this  he  did  not  see 
his  way  clear  to  serve;  accordingly,  at  the  expiration  of  the  term 
for  which  elected  he  was  succeeded  by  John  J.  Glenn,  after  whom, 
in  the  order  designated,  the  office  was  held  by  William  S.  Smith, 
Joseph  S.  France,  F.  P.  Randall  and  Robert  S.  Robertson,  all  dis- 
tinguished members  of  the  Fort  Wayne  bar  and  whose  records  are 
very  closely  interwoven  with  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  city.  The 
above  brings  the  list  of  city  attorneys  down  to  the  year  1870,  since 
which  date  the  office  has  been  filled  by  the  following  lawyers :  Al- 
len Zollars,  Henry  Colerick,  W.  H.  Shambaugh,  B.  F.  Ninde,  all 
of  whom  stand  high  among  the  leading  representatives  of  the  bar 
where  they  have  long  practiced.  The  present  incumbent,  W.  H. 
Shambaugh,  has  held  the  office  for  a  number  of  years,  and  is  re- 
garded as  an  able  and  conscientious  attorney,  in  whose  hands  the 
interests  of  the  municipality  have  been  ably  and  wisely  subserved. 

CITY    CLERKS. 

As  stated  in  a  preceding  paragraph,  this  office  was  created  in 
1854,  W.  E.  Ellis,  the  first  man  elected  thereto,  proving  an  unfaith- 
ful servant.  A.  J.  Emerick  succeeded  Mr.  Ellis  by  appointment, 
the  next  regularly  elected  clerk  being  R.  N.  Godfrey,  who  took  the 
office  in  the  spring  of  1855,  and  served  one  term.  A.  C.  Probasco 
was  elected  in  1856;  Christian  Tresselt,  in  1857;  J-  C.  Davis,  in 
1858;  and  Moses  Drake,  for  the  years  1859-60,  since  which  time 
the  following  gentlemen  have  held  the  position :  L.  T.  Bourie,  E. 
L.   Chittenden,   Samuel  P.   Freeman,   John  M.   Godown,  John  H. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  103 

Trentman,  W.  W.  Rockhill,  Rudy  C.  Reinwald,  William  T.  Jef- 
fries, Henry  B.  Monning  and  August  M.  Schmidt,  the  last  named, 
who  is  the  present  incumbent,  being  elected  in  May,  1901. 

STREET  COMMISSIONERS. 

The  following  are  the  names  of  the  men  who  have  had  super- 
vision of  the  streets  of  Fort  Wayne  since  the  incorporation  of  the 
city  in  1840:  Joseph  H.  McMaken,  Henry  Lotz,  William  Stewart, 
S.  M.  Black,  S.  C.  Freeman,  Morris  Cody,  Edward  Smith,  William 
Lannin,  Bernard  Hutker,  John  Greer,  John  Hardendorf,  Christian 
Cook,  Charles  Baker,  Henry  Tons,  C.  W.  Lindlay,  P.  Falahee,  W. 
H.  Briant,  B.  L.  P.  Willard,  H.  Trier,  Conrad  Baker,  Dennis 
O'Brien,  John  J.  Mungen,  Henry  Francke  and  Nelson  Thompson. 
In  1894  the  office  was  changed  to  that  of  street  superintendent, 
since  which  year  it  has  been  held  by  Frank  Weber  and  Henry  C. 
Francke,  the  latter  being  in  office  at  the  present  time. 

FOREMAN    OF    STREET    REPAIRS. 

This  office  was  created  in  1894,  the  first  person  appointed  thereto 
being  James  Price,  since  the  expiration  of  whose  term,  in  1896, 
Peter  Hohnhaus  has  discharged  the  duties  of  the  position. 

CIVIL   ENGINEERS. 

This  office  was  created  in  1842,  and  the  first  one  appointed  to 
fill  it  was  Ochmig  Bird,  who  served  from  that  time  until  1846, 
being  succeeded  in  the  latter  year  by  S.  M.  Black,  whose  period  of 
service  continued  until  1855.  Since  then  the  position  has  been  held 
by  E..  McElfatrick,  Charles  Forbes,  Samuel  McElfatrick,  Ochmig 
Bird  (a  second  time),  John  S.  Mower,  W.  S.  Gilkinson,  C.  S. 
Brackenridge,  John  W.  Ryall,  C.  S.  Brackenridge  (a  second  time), 
Henry  Hilbrecht,  W.  S.  Goshorn,  Jesse  R.  Straughn,  J.  S.  Goshorn, 
C.  S.  Brackenridge  (third  term),  and  Frank  M.  Randall,  the  pres- 
ent incumbent. 


104  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

ASSESSORS. 

From  the  year  1840  the  following  gentlemen  served  as  assessor: 
Robert  B.  Fleming,  S.  M.  Black,  William  Rockhill,  William  H. 
Price,  Joseph  Morgan,  Samuel  Stophlet,  Charles  G.  French,  Henry 
R.  Colerick,  S.  S.  Morss,  Henry  Christ,  James  Howe,  James  Price, 
H.  H.  Bossier,  S.  C.  Freeman,  John  B.  Rekers,  A.  C.  Probasco, 
George  Fisher,  E.  C.  Pens,  John  G.  Maier,  Louis  Jocquel  and 
Charles  Reese. 

MARSHALS. 

Samuel  S.  Morss,  Richard  McMullen,  B.  D.  Stevens,  James 
Crumsley,  William  Stewart,  W.  B.  Wilkinson,  C.  S.  Silver,  T.  J. 
Price,  Samuel  C.  Freeman,  Morris  Cody,  Samuel  C.  Freeman,  F. 
J.  Frank,  P.  McGee,  Joseph  Price,  P.  McGee,  William  Lindeman, 
P.  McGee,  Charles  Uplegger,  Christopher  Kelley,  H.  M.  Diehl, 
Frank  Falker,  Diedrich  Meyer  and  Henry  C.  Francke,  the  office  be- 
ing discontinued  in  1895. 

ALDERMEN. 

1840,  William  Rockhill,  Thomas  Hamilton,  Madison  Sweetser, 
Samuel  Edsall,  W.  S.  Edsall,  William  M.  Moon. 

1 84 1,  H.  T.  Dewey,  Henry  Sharp,  C.  G.  French,  Philo  Rumsey, 
A.  S.  Jones,  William  M.  Moon. 

1842,  H.  T.  Dewey,  Henry  Sharp,  Henry  Cooper,  Joseph  Scott, 
Philo  Rumsey,  William  M.  Moon. 

1843,  F-  p-  Randall,  Hugh  McCulloch,  J.  L.  Williams,  J.  B. 
Cocanour,  P.  H.  Taylor,  M.  W.  Hubbell. 

1844,  Morgan  Lewis,  Samuel  H.  Shoaff,  H.  Williams,  C.  S. 
Silver,  John  Cochrane,  J.  B.  Dubois. 

1845,  S.  M.  Black,  P.  Rumsey,  H.  W.  Jones,  James  Humphrey, 
Charles  Page,  J.  B.  Dubois. 

1846,  J.  B.  Hanna,  Henry  Sharp,  Richard  McMullen,  James 
Humphrey,  Samuel  S.  Morss,  Charles  Fink. 

1847,  Jacob  Lewis,  Henry  Sharp,  John  Cochrane,  James  P. 
Munson,  John  Cocanour,  Charles  Fink. 

1848,  Charles  Muhler,  John  Conger,  John  Cocanour,  Henry 
Sharp,  John  Cocanour,  A.  Mcjunkin. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  105 

1849,  Charles  Muhler,  P.  P.  Bailey,  James  Humphrey,  M.  Hede- 
kin, B.  W.  Oakley,  A.  Mcjunkin. 

1850,  Henry  Sharp,  W.  H.  Bryant,  James  Humphrey,  C.  Ander- 
son, B.  W.  Oakley,  A.  Mcjunkin. 

185 1,  O.  W.  Jefferds,  James  Howe,  D.  P.  Hartman,  Ochmig 
Bird,  Peter  Kiser,  Robert  Armstrong. 

1852,  Robert  McMullen,  H.  R.  Colerick,  James  Humphrey, 
Ochmig  Bird,  Jonas  W.  Townley,  Robert  Anderson. 

1853,  John  J.  Trentman,  Milton  Henry,  John  Drake,  James 
Vandegriff,  F.  Nirdlinger,  Henry  Drover. 

In  1854  the  city  was  divided  into  five  wards,  from  which  time 
until  the  year  1867  they  were  represented  in  the  council  by  the 
following  aldermen,  two  from  each  ward : 

First  Ward — John  J.  Trentman,  W.  Borger,  E.  Boslie,  F.  P. 
Randall,  J.  Ormiston,  H.  N.  Putnam,  W.  Borger  (elected  a  second 
time),  J.  Burt,  J.  Trentman,  E.  Slocum,  H.  Monning,  W.  Wad- 
dington. 

Second  Ward— F.  Aveline,  J.  M.  Miller,  H.  Baker,  M.  Hedekin, 

C.  D.  Bond,  J.  Orff,  J.  M.  Miller  (elected  a  second  time),  M.  Cody 
and  B.  H.  Tower,  the  last  two  serving  continuously  from  1859  to 
1866,  inclusive. 

Third  Ward — M.  Drake,  I.  Lauferty,  P.  Hoagland,  C.  Fink, 
H.  Nierman,  J.  M.  Worden,  C.  Orff,  E.  Vordermark,  J.  Foellinger, 
H.  Nierman  (second  time),  B.  D.  Miller,  C.  D.  Piepenbrink,  H. 
Nierman  (third  time),  P.  Hoagland  (second  time),  and  F.  Nird- 
linger. 

Fourth  Ward— John  Arnold,  W.  H.  Link,  C.  W.  Allen,  W.  T. 
Pratt,  W.  McKinley,  O.  D.  Hurd,  J.  Humphrey,  J.  S.  Harrington, 

D.  Downey,  A.  P.  Edgerton. 

Fifth  Ward— A.  M.  Webb,  J.  P.  Wise,  A.  Gamble,  C.  Becker, 
J.  S.  Irwin,  D.  Nestle,  A.  C.  Beaver,  B.  H.  Kimball,  A.  E.  Scheie, 
P.  S.  Underhill. 

In  1867  the  city  was  redistricted  into  eight  wards,  the  repre- 
sentatives from  that  year  until  1880  being  as  follows : 

First  Ward— W.  T.  McKean,  W.  Waddington,  A.  H.  Carter, 
W.  T.  McKean   (second  time),  H.   N.   Putnam,  C.   Reese. 

Second  Ward— M.   Cody,  J.  C.   Bowser,  M.   Hedekin,  B.  H. 


106  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

Tower,  J.  Bull,  M.  Hamilton,  O.  P.  Morgan,  C.  Hettler,  J.  B. 
White,  M.  Cody,  M.  Hamilton  (second  time). 

Third  Ward— B.  W.  Oakley,  J.  R.  Prentiss,  G.  W.  Bracken- 
ridge,  L.  Dessaur,  W.  Tagtmeyer,  W.  Meyer,  E.  L.  Chittenden,  M. 
Baltes,  J.  Breen,  J.  Ryan. 

Fourth  Ward — John  Arnold,  A.  P.  Edgerton,  H.  Trier,  W.  Mc- 
Phail,  J.  Morgan,  Samuel  Hanna,  Charles  McCulloch,  W.  McPhail 
(second  time),  H.  Graffe,  Charles  Munson,  E.  Zarbaugh,  C.  Muhler. 

Fifth  Ward— J.  Cochrane,  B.  H.  Kimball,  P.  S.  Underbill,  G. 
H.  Wilson,  C.  Becker,  P.  Hohnhaus,  G.  H.  Wilson  (second  time), 
D.  Harding,  W.  EL  Withers,  S.  Bash,  J.  M.  Reedmiller. 

Sixth  Ward — J.  Merz,  M.  Hogan,  T.  Hogan,  N.  C.  Miller,  J. 
Schepf,  N.  DeWald,  D.  B.  Strope,  L.  Fox,  J.  Welch. 

Seventh  Ward — G.  Jacoby,  G.  DeWald,  C.  Tremmel,  J.  S. 
Goshorn,  G.  Jacoby  (second  time),  J.  I  ten,  C.  Tremmel  (second 
term),  C.  Tarn,  J.  Holmes,  J.  E.  Graham,  J.  Mohr. 

Eighth  Ward — George  Link,  J.  Taylor,  O.  E.  Bradway,  W.  B. 
Fisher,  H.  Schone,  H.  Schnelker,  W.  Wittenberg,  A.  T.  Dryer,  J. 
W.  Vordermark. 

Ninth  Ward — This  ward  was  created  in  1870,  the  following 
being  the  names  of  the  councilmen  from  that  time  to  the  year  1880 : 
Henry  Stoll,  S.  Shryock,  James  Lillie,  C.  Schaefer,  J.  Wilkinson, 
Christian  Pfeiffer,  C.  H.  Linker,  J.  Wilkinson,  J.  Lillie,  Jr. 

Since  the  year  1880  the  several  wards  have  been  represented  at 
different  times  by  the  following  aldermen :  S.  D.  Bash,  L.  Braems, 
Louis  Fox,  M.  Hamilton,  C.  Hettler,  John  Lillie,  Jr.,  F.  H.  McCul- 
loch, John  Mohr,  Jr.,  C.  F.  Muhler,  John  Noll,  Charles  Reese,  J. 
M.  Reidemiller,  James  Ryan,  J.  W.  Vordermark,  John  Welch,  John 
Wessel,  Sr.,  A.  Wolf,  John  Wilkinson,  Charles  Pape,  Fred  C. 
Boltz,  William  Doehrman,  P.  J.  Wise,  Herman  Michael,  J.  Sion 
Smith,  William  Yergens,  Christian  Kramer,  S.  C.  Lumbard,  Ter- 
rence  Martin,  James  Woulfe,  George  Ely,  Anthony  Kelker,  John  C. 
Kensill,  Edmund  Lincoln,  J.  R.  Prentiss,  Peter  Scheid,  Amie 
Racine,  J.  A.  M.  Storms,  F.  D.  Swartz,  Christian  Tresselt,  C.  H. 
Buttenbender,  Levi  Griffith,  C.  F.  Haiber,  Dennis  Monahan,  H.  A. 
Read,  Louis  Hazzard,  Daniel  Lahmeyer,  William  D.  Meyer,  J.  J. 
Williams,  W.  N.  Weber,  F.  W.  Bandt,  L.  P.  Huser,  Henry  Hil- 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  107 

brecht,  Fred  Schmuckle,  D.  Sordon,  John  Smith,  H.  F.  Hilge- 
man,  V.  Ofenloch,  William  Brims,  M.  Cody,  Robert  Crane,  J.  L. 
Gruber,  George  P.  Gordon,  Fred  Dalman,  Frank  Delagrange, 
Charles  H.  Buck,  Peter  Eggeman,  Philip  Keintz,  F.  C.  Meyer,  Wil- 
liam Meyer,  Jr.,  John  Schaffer,  H.  P.  Scherer,  Thomas  Devilbiss, 
R.  B.  Hanna,  William  McClelland,  C.  B.  Oakley,  William  Pettit, 
B.  W.  Skelton,  Paul  E.  Wolf,  James  Conroy,  W.  H.  Tigar,  H.  G. 
Sommers,  G.  H.  Loesch,  H.  Hild,  William  Glenn,  John  T.  Young, 
B.  Barkenstein,  R.  J.  Fisher,  Charles  Griebel,  C.  H.  Waltemath,  E. 
H.  McDonald,  W.  E.  Purcell,  G.  H.  Loesch,  H.  G.  Nierman,  C.  W. 
Weller,  C.  Haag,  C.  H.  Buhr,  F.  X.  Schuhler,  George  R.  Hench, 
Edward  J.  Ehrman,  William  J.  Hosey,  Peter  F.  Poirson,  David  E. 
Eckert,  John  J.  Bauer,  James  J.  Hayes,  Joseph  F.  Zurbuch,  Sylvester 
McMahon,  Henry  Schwartz,  William  J.  Lennart,  K.  K.  Wheelock, 
Alanson  W.  Clark,  William  E.  Gerding,  Alexander  B.  White,  John 
J.  O'Ryan,  E.  C.  Miller,  Frank  J.  Baker,  Edward  J.  Lennon,  John 
J.  Bauer,  Henry  C.  Baade,  Adolph  Foellinger,  William  Griebel, 
Peter  J.  Schied,  F.  Meier,  Henry  W.  Kohrman,  Charles  P.  Sordelet, 
John  C.  Figel,  Fred  Gombert,  Charles  D.  Crouse,  J.  N.  Pfeiffer,  C. 
K.  Rieman,  Henry  Wiebke,  J.  Willis  Pearse,  Daniel  F.  Hauss, 
Thomas  N.  Hall,  George  B.  Stemen,  Charles  B.  Woodworm,  P.  E. 
Bursley,  Byron  A.  Strawn,  Michael  Kinder,  Fred  W.  Schieman, 
John  J.  Grund,  Henry  W.  Meyer,  Jesse  Brosius,  Arwid  Polster, 
George  A.  Sthair  and  Philip  H.  Wyss. 

Since  1898  the  city  has  been  divided  into  ten  wards,  the  follow- 
ing being  the  representatives  from  each  in  the  council  for  the  year 
1905  : 

First  Ward — John  N.  Pfeiffer,  Calvin  K.  Riemen, 

Second  Ward — Frank  J.  Baker,  Henry  A.  Wiebke. 

Third  Ward — Frank  E.  Purcell,  J.  Willis  Pearse. 

Fourth  Ward — Daniel  F.  Hauss,  Henry  Hill. 

Fifth  Ward — George  B.  Stemen,  Charles  B.  Woodworth. 

Sixth  Ward — Philip  E.  Bursley,  Gustav  A.  Selle. 

Seventh  Ward — Michael  Kinder,  Frederick  W.  Schiemen. 

Eighth  Ward — John  H.  Grund,  Henry  Hilgemann. 

Ninth  Ward — Jesse  Brosius,  Arwid  Polster. 

Tenth  Ward — George  A.  Sthair,  Philip  H.  Wyss. 


108  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

BOARD  OF  HEALTH. 

The  first  city  board  of  health  was  appointed  in  1842,  and  con- 
sisted of  three  well-known  physicians,  namely :  Drs,  J.  Evans,  W. 
H.  Brooks  and  B.  Seveneck.  From  that  time  on  the  public  health 
of  the  city  has  been  looked  after  by  the  following  gentlemen :  J. 
Evans,  Lewis  Beecher,  H.  P.  Ayers,  Lewis  Thompson,  Henry 
Wehmer,  C.  E.  Sturgis,  I.  D.  G.  Nelson,  John  Cochrane,  D.  W. 
Burroughs,  P.  M.  Leonard,  James  Ormiston,  Dr.  Bricker,  J.  D. 
Worden,  F.  D.  Frank,  Thomas  H.  Tigar,  O.  W.  Jefferds,  S.  B. 
Woodworth,  L.  Meinderman,  J.  H.  Robinson,  E.  Sturgis,  M. 
Hedekin,  W.  H.  Bryant,  Charles  Schmitz,  W.  H.  Myers,  I.  N. 
Rosenthal,  T.  McCullough,  A.  J.  Erwin,  J.  M.  Josse,  T.  J.  Dills, 
Th.  Heuchling,  W.  A.  Brooks. 

In  1882  the  office  of  health  officer  was  created,  the  position  being 
held  at  different  times  by  Drs.  W.  H.  Myers,  Theodore  Heuchling 
and  S.  C.  Metcalf,  in  the  order  indicated. 

In  1894  the  council  established  a  board  of  health  and  charities, 
and  appointed  as  members  of  the  same  Drs.  G.  B.  Stemen,  Jacob 
Hetrick  and  Aaron  Van  Buskirk,  who  served  as  a  body  until  1896, 
when  the  physician  last  named  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  A.  J.  Kessler, 
Dr.  L.  P.  Drayer  being  appointed  official  bacteriologist  the  same 
year.  From  1899  to  1901  the  board  was  composed  of  Drs.  James 
Miller,  A.  J.  Kessler  and  Henry  Ranke,  with  Dr.  Drayer  as  bacteriol- 
ogist, but  in  the  latter  year  the  department  was  placed  in  charge  of 
a  commissioner  of  health,  assisted  by  a  sanitary  inspector,  a  special 
sanitary  inspector  and  two  sanitary  policemen,  under  which  man- 
agement it  has  since  continued.  Dr.  Albert  H.  McBeth  was  ap- 
pointed health  commissioner  under  the  new  order  of  service  and 
still  holds  the  position,  Dr.  J.  C.  Wallace  being  sanitary  inspector, 
Dr.  M.  F.  Schick,  special  sanitary  inspector,  and  A.  J.  Aubrey  and 
Charles  Broeking,  sanitary  policemen,  all  of  whom  received  their 
appointments  in  the  year  1901. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  PUBLIC  WORKS. 

This  branch  of  the  municipal  service,  which  was  established  in 
the  year  1894,  consists  of  a  board  of  three  members  and  has  juris- 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  109 

diction  over  buildings,  streets,  all  public  improvements,  parks  and 
garbage,  the  chairman  of  the  board  presiding  at  the  regular  bi- 
weekly meetings  at  three  P.  M.  every  Monday,  and  every  Thursday 
at  seven-thirty  o'clock. 

The  first  board  consisted  of  Thomas  D.  Devilbiss,  Levi  Griffith 
and  Willis  Hattersley,  since  the  expiration  of  whose  terms  the 
following  men  have  served  on  the  board,  namely:  Peter  Eggeman, 
P.  H.  Kane,  William  McClelland,  Henry  A.  Read  and  J.  K.  Mc- 
Cracken. 

The  following  is  the  personnel  of  the  department  for  the  year 
1905 :  Peter  Eggeman,  chairman,  with  William  Doehrman  and 
Henry  C.  Zollinger,  constitute  the  board;  Henry  W.  Beck,  treas- 
urer; Bessie  Mannix,  stenographer;  Frank  M.  Randall,  civil 
engineer;  Henry  C.  Franke,  superintendent  of  streets;  Peter  G. 
Hohnhaus,  foreman  of  street  repairs ;  August  Goers,  superintendent 
of  parks ;  August  A.  Gocke,  superintendent  of  garbage  crematory. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  PUBLIC  SAFETY. 

This  department  was  established  in  1894,  under  the  direction 
of  a  board  consisting  of  the  following  members,  Charles  S.  Bash, 

D.  N.  Foster,  R.  B.  Rossington,  whose  unexpired  term  was  completed 
by  Frank  Steger.  Since  its  organization,  Charles  McCulloch,  A. 
I.  Friend,  Charles  H.  Buck,  Lewis  C.  Kasten  and  George  H.  Wilson 
have  served  on  the  board,  the  last  three  constituting  the  department 
for  the  year  1905. 

WATER  WORKS  BOARD. 

Since  the  organization  of  a  board  of  trustees  to  look  after  the 
interests  of  the  water  works,  the  following  citizens  have  served  as 
members  of  the  same:  Christian  Boseker,  Charles  McCulloch, 
Henry  Monning,  James  Breen,  John  F.  W.  Meyer,  T.  B.  Hedekin, 

E.  B.  Kunkle,  Christian  Boseker  (a  second  time),  William  Bittler, 
H.  C.  Graff e,  T.  H.  Haberkorn,  Emmet  H.  McDonald,  Murray 
Hartnett,  Philip  J.  Singleton,  William  Taghtmeyer,  William 
Kaough,  F.  T.  McDonald,  M.  J.  Zollars,  Joseph  A.  Biermer,  War- 
ren Carpenter,  Thomas  Baxter,  J.  H.  Turner  and  P.  J.  McDonald. 


no  THE   MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

The  board  for  the  year  1905  consists  of  Edward  White,  Hugh 
T.  Hogan  and  Julius  Tonne.  F.  William  Urbahns  is  clerk  of  the 
board,  Josepha  Biemer,  assistant  clerk,  and  F.  S.  Datonville, 
engineer  of  the  department. 

TRUSTEES  OF  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS. 

The  first  board  of  school  trustees,  appointed  in  the  year  1853, 
consisted  of  Hugh  McCulloch,  Charles  Case  and  William  Stewart. 
The  members  of  the  board  from  time  to  time  since  that  date  have 
been  as  follows :  James  Humphrey,  Henry  Sharp,  Charles  G.  French, 
William  Smith,  F.  P.  Randall,  John  M.  Miller,  Charles  E.  Sturgis, 
Pliny  Hoagland,  William  Rockhill,  William  H.  Link,  Thomas 
Tigar,  William  Edsall,  Samuel  Edsall,  O.  P.  Morgan,  Robert  E. 
Fleming,  James  H.  Robinson,  John  C.  Davis,  Orin  D.  Hurd,  A. 
Martin,  Emanuel  Bostick,  Virgil  M.  Kimball,  Ochmig  Bird, 
Christian  Orff,  John  S.  Irwin,  Edward  Slocum,  A.  P.  Edgerton, 
Max  Nirdlinger,  John  Moritz,  A.  E.  Huffman,  S.  M.  Foster, 
William  P.  Cooper,  A.  J.  Boswell,  George  H.  Felts,  Allen  Hamilton, 
W.  W.  Rockhill  and  Eugene  B.  Smith. 

The  board  for  the  year  1905,  Dr.  O.  W.  Gross,  Charles  S.  Bash 
and  E.  W.  Cook.    Superintendent  of  schools,  Prof.  J.  N.  Study. 

SUPERINTENDENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS. 

The  public  school  system  of  Fort  Wayne  was  inaugurated  in 
1852,  and  four  years  later  the  office  of  superintendent  was  created, 
the  first  person  chosen  for  the  position  being  Rev.  George  A.  Irwin, 
who  served  from  1856  until  1863,  when  he  resigned  to  become  a 
chaplain  in  the  army.  The  successor  of  Mr.  Irwin  was  S.  S.  Green, 
who  held  the  office  two  years,  being  followed  by  Prof.  James  H. 
Smart,  since  the  expiration  of  whose  term  of  service  the  position 
has  been  filled  successively  by  J.  S.  Irwin,  and  J.  N.  Study,  the 
present  incumbent. 

CITY  BUILDING. 

Until  a  comparatively  recent  date  the  common  council  of  Fort 
Wayne  held  its  sessions  in  rented  rooms  in  different  parts  of  the 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  in 

city,  the  various  offices  and  the  municipal  body  being  seldom  housed 
under  the  same  roof.  The  rapid  growth  of  the  city,  with  the  con- 
sequent increase  in  its  complex  machinery,  made  apparent  a  number 
of  years  ago  the  necessity  of  a  building  for  the  more  convenient 
transaction  of  municipal  business,  but  it  was  not  until  considerably 
later  that  definite  action  to  this  end  was  taken  by  the  council  and 
the  requisite  means  provided  for  the  erection  of  a  structure  in  keep- 
ing with  the  requirements  of  the  city  and  in  harmony  with  its  char- 
acter and  reputation  as  a  metropolitan  center. 

A  number  of  years  ago  the  late  Samuel  Hanna  donated  to  the 
city,  for  public  purposes,  a  lot  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Barr  and 
Berry  streets,  but  this  being  deemed  hardly  sufficient,  the  council 
in  1893,  after  the  contract  for  the  building  had  been  let,  purchased 
for  twenty-two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  an  additional  eighteen 
feet  adjoining  on  the  east,  making  the  lot  in  its  entirety  one  of  the 
most  suitable  for  the  purpose  within  the  bounds  of  the  municipality. 

Without  entering  into  the  details  of  the  provisions  for  creating 
a  building  fund,  suffice  it  to  state  that  in  1892  municipal  bonds  for 
that  purpose  were  sold,  and  the  same  year  C.  A.  Zollinger,  Herman 
Michael,  George  Ely,  Fred  Boltz  and  Peter  Eggemann  were  ap- 
pointed a  building  committee  to  look  after  the  construction  of  the 
proposed  edifice.  In  due  time  plans  prepared  by  Messrs.  Wing  and 
Mahurin,  well  known  architects  of  Fort  Wayne,  were  adopted,  and 
after  considering  the  several  bids  for  the  work,  the  contract  was 
finally  awarded  Christian  Boseker,  of  this  city,  following  which, 
ground  was  broken  and  the  enterprise  prosecuted  as  rapidly  as  ex- 
isting conditions  would  admit.  To  the  credit  of  the  committee  and 
all  in  any  way  concerned  with  the  building,  it  may  be  added  that  the 
labor  proceeded  without  serious  let  or  hindrance  until  the  year  1893, 
when  the  structure  was  completed  as  per  contract  and  formally 
handed  over  to  the  city  whose  interests  it  was  designed  to  subserve, 
the  cost  being  $59,835.58,  which,  with  $10,420.88  expended  on  the 
furnishing,  makes  a  total  of  $69,256.46,  a  very  reasonable  sum  for 
such  a  handsome  and  convenient  edifice. 

The  building  has  a  frontage  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  and 
a  depth  of  sixty  feet  on  Barr  and  Berry  streets  respectively;  is  three 
stories  high,  constructed  of  beautiful  yellow-tinted  stone,  and  was 


ii2  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

designed  after  the  Romanesque  style  of  architecture,  being  a  model 
of  artistic  taste  and  beauty.  The  basement  is  occupied  by  the  police 
department,  with  accommodations  consisting  of  the  general  police 
quarters,  private  offices,  store  rooms,  cell  room,  tramp  room,  together 
with  ample  space  for  horses  and  wagons  of  the  patrol.  In  addition 
there  is  also  a  boiler  room  for  the  heating  apparatus,  two  large  vaults 
for  the  preservation  of  public  records,  also  the  work  shop  and  storage 
room  of  the  city  water  works.  The  first  floor  contains  offices  for 
various  city  officials,  namely:  Comptroller,  department  of  public 
works  and  superintendent  of  police,  besides  a  commodious  room  in 
which  the  police  court  holds  its  sessions,  the  second  story  being  oc- 
cupied by  a  spacious  council  chamber  and  offices  for  the  mayor,  city 
attorney,  city  clerk,  civil  engineer,  board  of  health,  board  of  public 
safety,  and  board  of  associated  charities,  while  the  entire  third  floor 
is  devoted  to  a  public  hall  in  which  assemblages  of  various  kinds  are 
held,  there  being  sufficient  space  to  accommodate  without  discomfort 
an  audience  of  several  hundred  people.  The  interior  throughout  is 
handsomely  finished  and  furnished,  no  pains  having  been  spared  to 
enhance  its  beauty  and  attractiveness,  while  in  its  thorough  adap- 
tion to  the  uses  for  which  designed,  there  is  little,  if  anything,  to  be 
desired. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  113 


CHAPTER  V 


BANKING  INSTITUTIONS  OF  FORT  WAYNE  AND 

ALLEN  COUNTY. 


BY    ROBERT    S.     ROBERTSON. 


In  the  early  history  of  Allen  county  there  is  no  record  of  organ- 
ized banks  until  about  1835.  Prior  to  that,  mercantile  business 
was  conducted  on  a  small  scale,  and  largely  on  a  trading  basis.  The 
trader  or  the  merchant  was  probably  a  lender  of  his  surplus  funds, 
and  the  necessities  of  the  early  settler  were  so  few  that  the  absence 
of  banking  facilities  caused  little  inconvenience,  and  the  banks  came 
only  when  needed  and  would  be  profitable. 

The  first  bank  in  Fort  Wayne  was  the  branch  of  the  State  Bank 
of  Indiana,  for  Fort  Wayne,  established  in  1835.  On  the  28th  day 
of  January,  1834,  the  act  was  approved  which  established  the  State 
Bank.  It  enacted  "That  there  shall  be,  and  is  hereby  created  and 
established,  a  State  Bank,  with  ten  branches,  which,  or  so  many  as 
shall  be  organized  under  this  charter,  to  be  known  and  styled  the 
'State  Bank  of  Indiana,'  and  shall  continue  as  such  until  the  1st 
day  of  January,  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-nine."  It  is  noticeable 
that  this  section  is  seriously  defective  in  grammatical  and  legal  con- 
struction, but  it  is  not  known  that  any  question  was  ever  raised  in 
regard  to  it  in  the  legal  controversies  which  arose  during  the  life 
of  its  charter.  The  act  provided  for  the  establishment,  by  the  di- 
rectors first  appointed,  of  one  branch  of  said  bank  at  such  place 
8 


ii4  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

within  each  of  ten  districts  enumerated,  as  they  might  deem  ex- 
pedient. Allen  county  was  not  in  either  of  the  ten  districts,  but 
the  third  section  read :  "It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  directors  of 
the  State  Bank,  after  the  expiration  of  one  year,  to  locate  an  addi- 
tional branch  in  the  district  to  be  numbered  eleven,  composed  of 
the  counties  of  Adams,  Grant,  Huntington,  Wabash,  Miami,  Allen, 
Lagrange,  Elkhart  and  the  unorganized  territory  attached  to  said 
several  counties  for  judicial  purposes."  A  twelfth  district  was  to 
be  organized  after  three  years  from  three  or  more  counties  north 
of  the  Wabash. 

The  State  Bank  was  to  keep  an  office  at  Indianapolis,  and  the 
directors  were  to  meet  once  in  three  months.  The  powers  of  the 
bank  were  defined  as  follows :  "It  shall  be  a  body  corporate  and 
politic,  with  power  to  sue  and  be  sued,  plead  and  be  impleaded  in 
any  court  of  law  or  equity  having  jurisdiction,  and  to  transact  all 
other  lawful  business  herein  permitted  them  to  do;  and  shall  have 
power  by  and  through  her  branches,  and  not  otherwise,  to  loan 
money,  buy,  sell,  and  negotiate  bills  of  exchange,  checks,  promis- 
sory notes,  and  other  negotiable  paper  or  obligations  for  the  pay- 
ment of  money;  to  receive  deposits,  to  buy  and  sell  gold,  silver, 
bullion  and  foreign  coins;  to  draw,  issue  and  put  in  circulation  bills, 
notes,  postnotes,  bills  of  exchange,  and  other  evidences  of  debt,  pay- 
able to  order  or  bearer,  and  not  otherwise;  and  all  such  notes  and 
bills  put  in  circulation  as  money,  except  postnotes  and  bills  of  ex- 
change, shall  be  made  payable  on  demand;  and  to  exercise  such 
other  incidental  powers  as  may  be  necessary  to  carry  out  such 
business." 

It  might  purchase,  hold  and  sell  such  real  estate  as  required  for 
its  accommodation  in  the  transaction  of  its  business,  or  mortgaged 
to  it  in  good  faith  for  the  security  of  loans  previously  made;  or 
purchased  at  judgment  sales,  but  what  was  not  needed  in  its  busi- 
ness was  to  be  "set  up"  at  public  sale  at  least  once  in  each  year  until 
sold. 

It  might  not  suspend  payment  in  gold  or  silver  at  any  time  on 
demand.  If  it  did,  the  party  refused  could  collect  twelve  per  cent, 
interest  after  demand,  and  the  branch  failing  to  pay  was  to  be 
closed  as  insolvent. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  115 

The  State  Bank  and  its  branches  were  made  mutually  responsible 
for  all  the  liabilities  of  each  other.  All  suits  were  to  be  brought  in 
Marion  county,  and  against  the  "State  Bank,"  and  not  against  the 
branch  complained  of,  and  when  judgment  was  obtained  there  was 
no  stay  of  execution. 

Six  per  cent,  and  not  more,  was  the  loaning  rate,  but  might  be 
taken  in  advance.  Profits,  after  paying  expenses,  and  reserving  a 
contingent  fund,  were  divided  among  the  stockholders  of  the 
branch  making  the  profit,  in  proportion  to  the  stock  they  held. 
There  was  to  be  deducted  from  the  dividends  twelve  and  one-half 
cents  per  year  on  each  share  of  stock  for  the  school  fund. 

The  state  officers,  judges  of  the  courts  and  officers  of  the  general 
government  were  ineligible  to  any  office  in  the  bank  or  any  branch, 
and  no  officer  of  the  branches  could  be  an  officer  in  the  State  Bank 
nor  a  member  of  the  legislature.  No  note  of  less  denomination 
than  five  dollars  could  be  issued,  and  after  ten  years  the  legisla- 
ture might  prohibit  the  issuing  of  notes  for  less  than  ten.  No  other 
branch  than  those  designated  could  be  established. 

The  president  of  the  State  Bank  was  to  be  elected  by  the  general 
assembly,  by  ballot  of  each  house  separately,  and  he  must  receive 
a  majority  of  each  house,  and  was  to  hold  the  office  for  five  years, 
"unless  sooner  removed  by  joint  resolution,  and  another  appointed 
in  his  place."  His  salary  was  to  be  not  less  than  one  thousand  dol- 
lars nor  more  than  fifteen  hundred  dollars.  In  the  same  manner 
the  general  assembly  was  to  elect  four  directors  to  serve  one,  two, 
three  and  four  years,  one  going  out  at  the  end  of  each  year,  the 
terms  to  be  decided  by  lot.  Each  branch  was  to  elect  annually  a 
member  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  State  Bank,  and  the  di- 
rectors of  each  branch  were  elected  by  the  stockholders  of  the 
branch. 

The  State  Bank  had  control  and  supervision  of  the  branches,  but 
it  will  be  seen  it  could  not  do  a  banking  business  except  through 
its  branches,  and  thus  seems  to  have  been  more  of  the  character  of 
a  clearing  house  than  a  bank. 

Its  capital  stock  was  fixed  at  one  million  six  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  which  was  to  be  equally  divided  among  the  branches  au- 
thorized, "making  the  sum  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  dol- 


n6  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

lars  to  each  branch."  If,  after  due  notice,  eighty  thousand  dollars 
bona  fide  subscriptions  were  made  by  any  branch,  the  directors  of 
the  State  Bank  were  to  fix  and  give  notice  for  the  time  of  payment, 
and  for  electing  directors  of  the  branch.  The  subscribers  for  the 
eighty  thousand  dollars  of  stock  were  to  pay  thirty  thousand  dollars 
in  specie  to  the  commissioners  in  charge,  and  the  residue  in  two 
equal  annual  installments,  but  the  stockholder  had  the  right  to 
have  the  annual  installments  paid  by  the  state,  upon  his  securing 
the  amount  by  mortgage  on  unincumbered  real  estate  worth  double 
the  amount,  exclusive  of  improvements,  to  be  repaid  on  or  before 
nineteen  years  from  1834,  with  interest  at  6  per  cent  When  eighty 
thousand  dollars  was  thus  subscribed,  and  paid  for,  it  was  the  duty 
of  the  directors  of  the  State  Bank  to  subscribe  on  behalf  of  the  state 
eighty  thousand  dollars  to  the  stock  of  the  branch,  and  give  an  order 
on  the  commissioners  to  the  branch  for  the  thirty  thousand  dollars 
paid  on  the  stock  of  the  branch.  The  residue  of  the  state  stock 
was  to  be  paid  in  two  annual  installments.  Penalties  were  pro- 
vided for  defaults  in  payment  of  the  installments,  first  a  fine  and 
then  a  forfeiture,  and  when  dividends  were  declared,  the  dividends 
of  those  whose  stock  was  secured  to  the  state  were  to  be  paid  to 
the  commissioners  of  the  sinking  fund.  To  make  good  the  under- 
taking on  the  part  of  the  state,  a  loan  of  one  million  three  hundred 
thousand  dollars  was  authorized  to  be  negotiated.  No  other  banks 
were  to  be  chartered  by  the  state  during  the  term  of  its  charter, 
which  was  fixed  to  expire  January  1,  1857,  when  all  banking  powers 
were  to  cease,  and  only  two  years  were  granted  to  close  up  the 
business  of  the  bank  and  its  branches.  The  general  assembly  ex- 
pressly retained  the  right  to  establish  a  new  bank  and  branches  at 
any  time  after  January  1,  1857. 

So  much  of  the  provisions  of  the  law  have  been  given  because 
it  was  an  experiment  which  many  condemned,  and  many  doubted 
the  propriety  of  undertaking,  on  the  part  of  the  state,  and  because 
it  was  not  only  the  beginning  of  the  banking  system  for  Indiana, 
but  was  the  law  upon  whose  provisions  was  based  the  first  banking 
facilities  of  Fort  Wayne.  There  seems  no  reason  to  doubt  that 
Hon.  Samuel  Hanna,  then  representative  for  Fort  Wayne  and  a 
large  district  surrounding  it,   as  chairman  of  the  committee  on 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  117 

banking,  had  much  to  do  in  securing-  a  favorable  consideration  for 
and  the  passage  of  the  law. 

THE   FORT   WAYNE  BRANCH    OF   THE   STATE   BANK   OF   INDIANA. 

As  heretofore  noted,  the  branch  at  Fort  Wayne  was  not  to  be 
established  until  1835.  Plans  for  its  organization  were  undertaken 
and  the  necessary  amount  of  stock  subscribed  by  midsummer  of 
that  year,  and  on  the  25th  of  August,  1835,  the  directors  of  the 
State  Bank  notified  the  subscribers  to  the  stock  of  the  Fort  Wayne 
branch  to  pay  in  specie  the  first  installment,  it  being  three-eighths 
of  the  subscription,  to  Samuel  Lewis,  William  Rockhill  and  Hugh 
McCulloch,  by  Saturday,  the  31st  day  of  October,  next,  and  to 
meet  for  the  election  of  officers  the  Monday  following,  being  the 
2d  day  of  November.  The  commissioners  named  were  to  be  the 
judges  of  the  election.  At  the  same  time  the  State  Bank  notified 
Allen  Hamilton,  Hugh  Hanna  and  William  Rockhill  of  their 
appointment  as  directors  on  the  part  of  the  state.  At  the  meeting 
of  November  2d  ten  directors  were  elected  by  the  stockholders,  to- 
wit,  Samuel  Lewis,  William  G.  Ewing,  Francis  Comparet,  Joseph 
Morgan,  Joseph  Sinclair,  Isaac  Spencer,  Asa  Fairfield,  Jesse  Ver- 
milyea,  David  Burr  and  Samuel  Edsall.  The  number  thirteen 
seemed  to  have  no  terrors  for  these  old-time  financiers. 

The  directors  ordered  a  meeting  to  be  held  at  the  house  of  Fran- 
cis Comparet  at  6  P.  M.  the  next  day  to  elect  officers.  This  was  a 
small  brick  building  on  the  south  side  of  Columbia  street,  west  of 
Clinton.  At  that  meeting,  November  3,  1835,  Allen  Hamilton  was 
elected  president  of  the  Fort  Wayne  branch  of  the  State  Bank,  and 
made  director  of  the  State  Bank  to  represent  the  branch.  Hugh 
McCulloch,  who  was  appointed  comptroller  of  the  currency  by 
President  Lincoln,  and  later  served  as  secretary  of  the  United 
States  treasury  under  three  administrations,  was  made  its  cashier 
and  manager,  and  gave  bond  for  fifty  thousand  dollars,  while  re- 
ceiving the  munificent  salary  of  eight  hundred  dollars  per  annum. 
The  cashier  was  instructed  to  receipt  to  Stephen  B.  Hunt  "for  four 
kegs  of  specie,  supposed  to  contain  twenty  thousand  dollars,"  re- 
ceived from  the  branch  at  Richmond  as  part  of  the  first  installment 
of  the  state's  subscription  to  the  stock. 


n8  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

The  expense  committee  was  authorized  to  contract  with  Francis 
Comparet  for  the  use  of  his  house  for  banking  purposes,  at  the 
rent  of  two  hundred  dollars  per  annum,  and  Smallwood  Noel,  a 
justice  of  the  peace,  was  to  have  the  use  of  the  back  rooms  and 
garden  for  five  dollars  per  month.  The  cashier  was  ordered  to  de- 
mand and  receive  from  the  State  Bank  "the  paper  for  this  branch 
to  the  amount  of  eighty  thousand  dollars."  This  was  probably 
meant  to  be  the  notes  it  was  entitled  to  issue  as  currency. 

The  board,  on  the  24th  of  November,  1835,  ordered  that  the 
opening  day  for  discounts  should  be  "Wednesday  of  this  week," 
and  December  2d  it  passed  on  twenty-five  applications,  rejecting 
five. 

March  16,  1836,  M.  W.  Hubbell  was  elected  clerk  of  the  branch, 
and  gave  bond  for  twenty  thousand  dollars.  His  salary  was  four 
hundred  dollars  per  annum,  and  the  rents  received  from  Noel's 
rooms  and  garden. 

The  branch  soon  cast  about  for  a  home  more  suitable  for  its 
growing  business,  for  its  records  show  a  good  beginning  and  a  con- 
stant increase  in  the  volume  of  business,  and  September  27, 
1836,  a  deed  from  Samuel  Hanna  for  lot  83  in  the  town  plat  was 
approved  at  the  price  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars.  In  1839  it  pur- 
chased the  adjoining  lot,  No.  84,  for  six  hundred  dollars.  In  the 
spring  of  1837  a  contract  was  let  to  L.  G.  Tower  for  a  banking 
house  and  dwelling  house  attached  upon  this  property  at  the  south- 
west corner  of  Main  and  Clinton  streets,  to  be  erected  by  him  for 
four  thousand  dollars,  the  bank  to  furnish  the  materials.  It  was 
not  completed  and  occupied  until  some  time  in  1838.  The  cashier 
had  the  use  of  the  "dwelling  house  attached."  On  the  21st  of 
August  the  standing  expense  committee  reported  the  total  cost  of 
the  banking  house  to  be  twelve  thousand  four  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars  and  sixty-five  cents,  and  that  delays  and  extra  work  had 
compelled  them  to  pay  to  laborers  on  behalf  of  Tower  some  twelve 
hundred  dollars  over  his  agreed  price,  and  recommended  its  allow- 
ance to  him,  as  he  had  lost  on  the  work.  It  was  finally  agreed  to 
allow  him  one  thousand  dollars  in  full  for  the  extras.  This  reads 
very  much  like  the  story  of  similar  contracts  in  this  age  of  the 
world,  and  to  an  unprejudiced  observer  it  would  seem  that  the  bank 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  119 

paid  a  good  round  price  for  its  new  home,  which  we  remember  as 
the  old  building  torn  down  a  few  years  since  to  build  the  home  for 
the  Home  Telephone  Exchange. 

In  the  meantime  the  great  financial  crash  of  1837  had  come. 
Banks  all  over  the  country  were  failing,  or  suspending  specie  pay- 
ments. The  State  Bank  sent  letters  of  advice  to  all  the  branches, 
including  that  at  Fort  Wayne,  advising  them  to  suspend  specie  pay- 
ments, "in  order  to  keep  in  the  state  the  large  amount  of  specie 
now  on  hand,"  and  at  the  meeting  of  the  directors  held  May  23, 
1837,  special  payments  were  ordered  suspended.  The  business  of  the 
branch  went  on,  and  the  suspension  produced  no  disaster,  nor  did  the 
branch  waver  or  show  signs  of  weakness.  Hugh  McCulloch,  in 
"Men  and  Measures  of  Half  a  Century,"  says:  "None  of  the  di- 
rectors or  officers  of  the  bank  or  of  its  branches  had  made  banking 
a  study,  or  had  any  practical  knowledge  of  the  business,  and  yet  no 
serious  mistakes  were  made  by  them.  Cautious,  prudent,  upright, 
they  obtained,  step  by  step,  the  practical  knowledge  which  enabled 
them  to  bring  the  transactions  of  the  branches  into'  close  accord 
with  the  public  interests,  and  to  secure  for  the  bank  a  credit  coex- 
tensive with  the  country  west  of  the  Alleghanies,  and  which  was 
never  shaken.  Its  notes  were  current,  and  of  the  best  repute 
throughout  the  Mississippi  valley,  from  the  lakes  to  the  Gulf." 

In  those  days  money — specie  largely — was  carried  a  three  days' 
journey  from  Fort  Wayne  to  Indianapolis,  or  the  reverse,  in  saddle- 
bags, without  the  loss  of  a  dollar  by  robbery,  or  an  attempt  at  vio- 
lence toward  the  persons  carrying  the  treasure. 

Of  this  branch  Mr.  McCulloch  has  said :  "It  was  not  the  best, 
but  one  of  the  best  managed  branches.  The  profits  of  this  branch 
so  much  exceeded  six  per  cent,  that  the  loan  was  paid  seven  years 
before  the  expiration  of  the  charter.  *  *  *  At  the  winding 
up  of  the  business  of  the  branch  he  received  not  only  the  par  value 
of  his  stock,  but  an  equal  amount  from  the  accumulated  surplus." 
Again  he  says,  "In  this  bank  there  was  no  betrayal  of  trust,  and 
only  one  single  instance  of  official  dishonesty." 

July  2j,  1 84 1,  Allen  Hamilton  resigned  as  president,  and  Samuel 
Hanna  was  elected  to  the  place,  serving  until  November  2,  1847, 
when  Mr.  Hamilton  was  again  elected,  and  served  until  its  affairs 


120  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

were  closed  on  the  expiration  of  its  charter  in  1857.  On  the  14th 
of  December,  1858,  the  assets  of  the  branch  were  assigned  to  Ste- 
phen B.  Bond  as  trustee,  and  on  the  23d  of  December  they  were 
assigned  to  the  banking  firm  of  Allen  Hamilton  &  Company  in 
consideration  of  sixteen  thousand  four  hundred  and  thirty-five 
dollars. 

Practically  the  same  stockholders  had  been  for  nearly  three  years 
engaged  in  the  organization  of  the  Fort  Wayne  branch  of  the  bank 
of  the  state,  and  were  their  own  successors.  The  State  Bank  was 
a  monopoly,  and  had  bitter  opponents.  The  constitutional  con- 
vention of  185 1  had  refused  to  provide  for  an  extension  of  the 
charter,  and  opened  the  way  for  free  banking.  The  branches  of 
the  State  Bank  then  began  to  prepare  for  dissolution  in  advance  of 
the  time  set  for  expiration  of  the  charter,  and  various  plans  were 
discussed  during  this  transition  period.  The  free  banks  which 
sprang  up  did  not  prove  entirely  satisfactory,  and  failed  to  inspire 
confidence.  The  friends  of  the  State  Bank  and  its  officers  and  the 
officers  of  the  various  branches  set  themselves  to  work  in  earnest, 
and  soon  a  combination,  or  syndicate,  was  formed,  which  secured 
from  the  legislature  of  1854-5  the  passing  of  an  act  to  establish 
"The  Bank  of  the  State  of  Indiana."  It  was  vetoed  by  the  Gov- 
ernor, but  passed  both  houses  March  3,  1855,  over  the  veto. 
It  was  mainly  on  the  lines  of  the  act  of  1833-4,  but  the 
state  was  not  to  be  a  stockholder,  the  branches  were  to  number 
twenty,  instead  of  thirteen,  and  its  capital  was  to  be  six  million 
dollars.  No  branch  was  to  be  organized  until  one  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  had  been  subscribed,  to  be  paid  in  installments. 

The  promoters  of  the  scheme  never  intended  to  use  the  franchise, 
but  to  sell  it,  and  at  once  opened  negotiations  with  the  officers  of 
the  State  Bank,  which  resulted  in  the  control  passing  principally 
to  the  same  men  who  had  controlled  the  State  Bank  and  its  branches. 
One  of  the  conditions  of  the  bargain  was  that  the  directors  should 
elect  Mr.  McCulloch  president  of  the  Bank  of  the  State,  which  was 
done  in  May,  1857. 

It  was  under  this  law  and  this  arrangement  that  the  stockholders 
of  the  "Fort  Wayne  Branch  of  the  State  Bank"  became  the  stock- 
holders of  the  "Fort  Wayne  Branch  of  the  Bank  of  the  State," 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  121 

and  organized  October  25,  1855,  with  Hugh  McCulloch  president, 
and  Charles  D.  Bond  cashier.  The  directors  were  Hugh  McCul- 
loch, Ochmig  Bird,  William  Mitchell,  Pliny  Hoagland,  Melancthon 
W.  Hubbell,  Hugh  B.  Reed  and  Benjamin  W.  Oakley. 

It  continued  the  business  at  the  same  place  its  predecessor  occu- 
pied, and  took  over  the  business  of  the  old  bank,  and  was  one  of 
the  best  known  banking  institutions  in  this  section,  always  occupy- 
ing a  high  position  in  the  confidence  of  all.  It  had  a  fixed  rule 
never  to  permit  its  coin  reserve  to  fall  below  thirty  per  cent,  of  its 
outstanding  notes,  and  on  the  suspension  of  specie  payments  in 
1 86 1  made  a  large  profit  by  the  sale  of  its  surplus  coin  at  a  pre- 
mium. 

Pliny  Hoagland  became  its  president  December  9,  1863,  and 
served  until  its  business  was  merged  in  the  Fort  Wayne  National 
Bank  and  the  branch  of  the  Bank  of  the  State  passed  into  history. 
The  tax  upon  circulating  notes  imposed  by  congress  on  the  estab- 
lishment of  national  banks  caused  this  determination  to  close  out, 
and  in  September,  1865,  the  board  began  to  take  action.  On  the 
6th  of  December  the  sale  of  its  assets  to  the  new  national  bank 
was  ordered,  and  in  March,  1866,  the  officers  reported  that  Pliny 
Hoagland  and  Charles  D.  Bond  had  contracted  to  redeem  all  its 
outstanding  notes.  One-half  of  the  stock  had  already  been  re- 
deemed, and  now  the  other  half  was,  and  the  surplus  funds  di- 
vided. The  bank  had  returned  to  its  stockholders  $100,000  capital 
stock  and  $150,250  surplus.  For  $125,000  paid  in,  $290,747.52 
had  been  returned,  after  paying  all  the  regular  dividends.  And 
thus  the  Branch  Bank  passed  out  of  existence,  like  its  predecessor, 
full  of  honor,  and  full  in  pocket. 

THE    FORT   WAYNE   NATIONAL   BANK. 

This  bank  was  organized  under  the  banking  laws  of  the  United 
States  January  25,  1865.  It  could  claim  the  right  of  seniority  by 
succession  over  any  bank  in  Fort  Wayne,  but  the  First  National 
had  been  organized  before  its  application  for  a  charter,  and  it  was 
compelled  to  choose  a  name  other  than  "First,"  and  as  it  was  the 
"Fort  Wayne"  branch  of  the  Bank  of  the  State,  it  chose  the  name 


122  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

of  "Fort  Wayne  National."  It  retained  the  bank  building  of  its 
predecessors  on  the  corner  of  Main  and  Clinton.  Jesse  L.  Williams 
was  elected  president,  Pliny  Hoagland  vice-president  and  Jared  D. 
Bond  cashier.  The  directors  were  Jesse  L.  Williams,  Pliny  Hoag- 
land, Oliver  P.  Morgan,  Montgomery  Hamilton  and  Stephen  B. 
Bond.  The  capital  stock  was  fixed  at  three  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars. 

In  August,  1865,  Mr.  Williams  resigned,  and  Charles  D.  Bond, 
who  had  been  cashier  of  the  Branch  Bank,  was  elected  to  the  presi- 
dency of  the  bank,  and  continued  in  the  office  until  his  death,  in 
December,  1873,  and  in  January,  1874,  his  brother,  Stephen  B. 
Bond,  was  elected  to  fill  the  vacancy,  and  remained  its  president 
through  its  existence,  and  after  its  reorganization  as  the  Old  Na- 
tional, until  December,  1904,  when  he  resigned. 

The  history  of  this  bank  would  not  be  complete  without  some 
notice  of  the  Bond  brothers  and  their  connection  with  the  bank.  As 
has  been  stated,  Charles  D.  Bond  had  been  cashier  of  the  second 
branch  of  the  state  institution.  He  was  a  man  of  the  strictest  prob- 
ity, and  his  name  is  among  those  without  stain  in  the  community 
in  which  he  lived  a  useful  life  and  to  which  he  was  an  ornament. 
His  brother,  Stephen  B.  Bond,  was  connected  with  the  first  branch 
bank  of  the  state  as  early  as  1848.  He  commenced  at  the  bottom 
of  the  ladder,  as  "porter  and  assistant  clerk,"  and  climbed  to  the  top 
round  as  president,  retiring  with  honor  and  the  rewards  of  duty 
well  performed.  During  his  banking  experience  he  was  for  a  time 
cashier  of  the  banking  house  of  Allen  Hamilton  &  Company,  and 
later  a  partner  in  it.  His  future  business  is  as  president  of  the 
Packard  Organ  Company.  Jared  D.  Bond,  the  third  brother,  served 
thirty-nine  years  as  cashier,  but  was  at  first  a  clerk  in  the  Branch 
Bank  in  1857,  later  becoming  its  teller,  becoming  cashier  of  the 
Fort  Wayne  National  in  January,  1865.  The  family  came  here 
from  Lockport,  New  York,  at  an  early  period,  and  has  been  not 
only  first  among  banking  families,  but  also  among  the  first  in  social 
and  business  circles. 

The  charter  expired  by  limitation  in  1885,  and  when  it  was  to 
be  renewed,  the  managers  concluded  to  drop  the  name  of  "Fort 
Wayne,"  and  reorganize  under  one  which  would  more  explicitly 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  123 

define  its  position  among  the  banking  institutions  of  Fort  Wayne. 
Its  lineage  was  the  oldest.  It  could  not  use  the  word  "First,"  but 
it  could  declare  itself  "old,"  and  did  so. 

THE  OLD  NATIONAL  BANK   OF  FORT  WAYNE. 

This  bank  commenced  business  under  the  new  charter  January 
26,  1885,  at  the  old  banking  house,  corner  of  Main  and  Clinton, 
with  a  capital  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  It  re- 
mained there  until  it  erected  its  present  handsome  banking  house 
on  the  southwest  corner  of  Calhoun  and  Berry  streets,  in  1891. 

Its  first  officers  were:  Stephen  B.  Bond,  president;  Oliver  P. 
Morgan,  vice-president;  Jared  D.  Bond,  cashier,  and  James  C. 
Woodworth,  assistant  cashier.  During  the  twenty  years  of  its 
charter  life  there  were  few  changes  in  its  directory,  and  most  of 
them  were  caused  by  death.  Mr.  Morgan  died  in  October,  1900, 
and  Henry  C.  Paul  became  vice-president  in  his  place.  Early  in 
that  year  Mr.  Woodworth  died,  and  Charles  E.  Bond,  son  of  its 
former  president,  C.  D.  Bond,  became  assistant  cashier  in  his  place. 
The  management  remained  the  same,  and  the  bank  was  conducted 
on  the  same  prudent,  safe  and  conservative  basis  as  that  which  gave 
stability  to  the  institution  through  all  its  mutations  of  three  score 
and  ten  years,  the  biblical  period  of  the  lifetime  of  man. 

On  the  20th  of  December,  1904,  the  bank,  having  renewed  its 
charter,  commenced  anew,  with  important  changes  in  its  corps  of 
managers.  Those  veterans,  Stephen  B.  Bond  and  Jared  D.  Bond, 
voluntarily  retired  from  long  service  and  faithful  work,  and  were 
succeeded  by  new  officials.  Henry  C.  Paul,  long  identified  with 
most  of  the  financial  institutions,  and  many  of  the  business  interests, 
such  as  manager  of  the  gas  company,  the  traction  company  and 
president  of  the  Fort  Wayne  Trust  Company  and  of  the  electric 
works,  was  elected  president.  Charles  E.  Bond,  son  of  Charles  D. 
Bond,  and  nephew  of  Stephen  B.  and  Jared  Bond,  who  had  all  of 
his  mature  life  been  connected  with  the  bank,  became  cashier,  and 
Gustav  A..  Schwegman  assistant  cashier.  Its  last  financial  report 
is  as  follows: 


124  THE   MAUMEE    RIVER   BASIN. 

RESOURCES. 

Loans    and    discounts $1,151,861.01 

Overdrafts,  secured  and   unsecured 5,032.68 

U.  S.  bonds  to  secure  circulation 350,000.00 

U.  S.  bonds  on  hand :, 550.00 

Premiums   on   U.    S.   bonds 13,500.00 

Bond,   securities,   etc 261,064.72 

Banking  house,  furniture  and  fixtures 65,884.83 

Other  real   estate   owned 9,000.00 

Due  from  National  Banks  (not  reserve  agents)  1,017.49 

Due  from   approved   reserve  agents 568,739.10 

Checks    and    other    cash    items 2,562.91 

Exchanges    for    clearing    house 22,271.63 

Notes  of  other  National  Banks 28,760.00 

Fractional  paper,  currency,  nickels  and  cents.  493.23 
Lawful  money  reserve  in  bank,  viz: 

Specie $147,003.03 

Legal  tender  notes 35,000.00  182,003.30 

Redemption    fund    with    U.    S.    Treasurer     (5 

per  cent,  of  circulation) 17,500.00 

Due   from  U.   S.   Treasurer   other  than   5   per 

cent,   redemption    fund 4,155.00 

Total $2,684,395.90 

LIABILITIES. 

Capital  stock  paid  in $  350,000.00 

Surplus    fund 140,000.00 

Undivided    profits,    less    expenses    and    taxes 

paid    15,283.21 

Due  to  other  National  Banks 21,499.25 

Due  to  State  Banks  and  bankers 70,268.06 

Due  to  Trust  Companies  and  Savings  banks..  80,198.84 

Dividends    unpaid 280.00 

Individual  deposits  subject  to  check 646,557,73 

Demand  certificates  of  deposit 1,008,042.74 

Certified    checks , 1,658.50 

Cashier's  checks  outstanding 589.57 

Total      $2,684,395.90 

Under  such  management,  the  bank  gives  promise  of  the  same 
success,  the  same  keeping  pace  with  the  growth  of  the  business  of 
Fort  Wayne,  as  marked  the  history  of  its  predecessors.  It  is  a 
landmark  in  the  history  of  the  city,  and  an  institution  that  merits 
the  respect  and  pride  of  its  citizens. 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  125 

THE  BANKING  HOUSE  OF  ALLEN  HAMILTON  &  COMPANY. 

In  1853  Allen  Hamilton,  the  president  of  the  Branch  Bank  of 
the  State,  Hugh  McCulloch,  its  cashier,  who  has  also  been  men- 
tioned fully,  and  Jesse  L.  Williams,  one  of  its  directors,  later  a  gov- 
ernment director  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad,  formed  a  partner- 
ship and  organized  a  company  to  conduct  a  bank  of  discount  and 
deposit.  It  was  a  private  bank,  a  partnership  merely,  and  was  not 
organized  under  any  banking  law.  Its  business  was  carried  on  in 
a  building  on  the  west  side  of  Clinton  street,  south  of  Columbia,  on 
lot  57,  original  plat,  until  1862.  Stephen  B.  Bond,  mentioned  in 
connection  with  the  Branch  Bank  of  the  State  as  clerk,  and  who 
ended  his  active  banking  career  as  president  of  the  "Old  National," 
was  its  manager,  and  in  1855  was  admitted  as  a  partner.  In  i860 
Charles  McCulloch,  son  of  Hugh  McCulloch,  was  also  admitted  as 
a  partner. 

In  1862  the  bank  removed  to  a  building  on  Calhoun  street,  oppo- 
site the  court  house,  just  north  of  where  the  Rurode  dry  goods 
store  is  now  located,  and  increased  its  banking  facilities,  retaining 
the  same  name. 

On  the  1st  of  June,  1874,  the  firm  was  dissolved  for  the  purpose 
of  organizing  a  bank  under  the  laws  of  Indiana,  which  was  imme- 
diately done,  under  the  name  of 

THE   HAMILTON   BANK. 

This  bank,  the  immediate  successor  of  the  banking  house  of  Allen 
Hamilton  &  Company,  was  incorporated  in  June,  1874,  under  the 
banking  laws  of  the  state,  with  a  capital  of  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars.  Charles  McCulloch  was  elected  first  president,  John  Mohr, 
Jr.,  cashier,  and  Joseph  D.  Mohr,  assistant  cashier.  Its  directors 
were  Charles  McCulloch,  Jesse  L.  Williams,  Montgomery  Hamil- 
ton, William  Fleming,  Frederick  Eckart,  August  Trentman  and 
Edward  P.  Williams. 

This  bank  continued  business  without  changes  of  great  impor- 
tance, transacting  a  large  and  conservative  business.  With  a  capi- 
tal of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars,  it  had  a  daily  average  deposit 


126  THE    MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

account  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  carried  a 
surplus  of  thirty-six  thousand  dollars.  In  November,  1879,  it 
merged  into 

THE   HAMILTON    NATIONAL  BANK  OF  FORT  WAYNE. 

It  was  organized  with  a  capital  of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars 
and  had  a  surplus  of  thirty  thousand  dollars.  The  same 
officers  who  had  successfully  conducted  the  affairs  of  the  Hamilton 
Bank  were  elected  to  the  same  positions  in  the  Hamilton  National 
Bank.  The  directory  was  also  the  same,  except  that  E.  L.  Chitten- 
den took  the  place  of  William  Fleming. 

The  charter  expired  in  November,  1899,  but  the  bank  was  re- 
chartered,  and  with  its  new  organization  has  continued  its  business. 
On  the  reorganization  being  perfected,  the  following  officers  and 
directors  were  elected :  Charles  McCulloch,  president ;  John  Mohr, 
Jr.,  cashier;  John  Ross  McCulloch  and  Frank  H.  Poole,  assistant 
cashiers;  directors,  Charles  S.  Bash,  Benjamin  Rothschild,  John 
Mohr,  Jr.,  Charles  McCulloch,  Louis  Fox,  John  B.  Reuss  and  John 
Ross  McCulloch.     Its  last  financial  statement  is  as  follows: 

RESOURCES. 

Loans  and  discounts ■ $1,436,635.23 

Overdrafts,   secured   and   unsecured 16,474.16 

U.  S.  bonds  to  secure  circulation 200,000.00 

U.  S.  bonds  to  secure  U.  S.  deposits 67,000.00 

U.  S.  bonds  on  hand 218,340.00 

Premiums  on  U.  S.  bonds 11,387.34 

Bonds,   securities,   etc 300,057.13 

Banking  house,  furniture  and  fixtures 68,653.08 

Other   real   estate  owned 2,168.61 

Due  from  National  Banks  (not  reserve  agents)  47,500.10 

Due  to  State  Banks  and  bankers 1,476.13 

Due  from  approved  reserve  agents 354,429.23 

Checks  and  other  cash  items 17,098.32 

Exchanges  for  clearing  house.  .> 7,445.86 

Notes  of  other  National  Banks 125,876.00 

Fractional  paper  currency,  nickels  and  cents.  891.26 
Lawful   money   reserve  in   bank,   viz: 

Specie    $111,475.10 

Legal   tender  notes 48,785.00  160,260.10 

Redemption  fund  with  U.  S.  Treasurer  (5  per 

cent,   of   circulation) 10,000.00 

Total $3,045,692.55 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  127 

LIABILITIES. 

Capital  stock  paid  in ?    200,000.00 

Surplus    fund 275,000.00 

Undivided    profits,    less    expenses    and    taxes 

paid    43,095.76 

National  Bank  notes  outstanding 200,000.00 

Due  to  other  National  Banks 20,934.08 

Due  to  State  Banks  and  bankers 38,407.29 

Dividends   unpaid 364.00 

Individual  deposits  subject  to  check 629,408.52 

Demand   certificates   of   deposit 1,543,758.01 

Certified  checks 27,724.89 

United   States   deposits 67,000.00 


Total    $3,045,692.55 

In  1898  the  bank  moved  into  its  present  home  on  the  northwest 
corner  of  Main  and  Calhoun  streets,  which  has  been  its  home  ever 
since.  The  bank  has  been  conducted  on  such  safe  and  conservative 
banking  principles  that  it  has  a  surplus  of  three  hundred  thousand 
dollars  over  and  above  its  capital  stock,  and  it  ranks  today  among 
the  soundest  and  best  of  the  moneyed  institutions  of  the  state. 

THE   FIRST    NATIONAL  BANK   OF   FORT   WAYNE. 

The  beginnings  of  this  important  banking  house  were  early  in 
1 86 1,  when  Joseph  D.  Nuttman,  who  had  for  some  years  con- 
ducted an  extensive  mercantile  business  in  Decatur,  the  county  seat 
of  Adams  county,  came  to  Fort  Wayne,  where,  as  a  young  man, 
he  had  been  in  the  employ  of  Townley  DeWald  &  Company,  and 
engaged  in  the  banking  business  as  a  private  banker,  with  William 
B.  Fisher,  a  nephew  of  Mrs.  Nuttman,  as  his  assistant.  The  name 
was  the  Citizens'  Bank. 

Immediately  after  the  passage  of  the  national  banking  act  in 
1863  he  became  associated  with  Hon.  Samuel  Hanna,  who  sug- 
gested to  him  not  only  the  propriety,  but  the  necessity,  of  organ- 
izing as  a  national  bank,  if  he  desired  to  continue  in  business.  To- 
gether they  set  about  the  organization  of  the  bank,  and  so  speedily 
that  the  application  for  a  charter  was  the  first  from  the  state  of 
Indiana,  and  the  sixth  in  the  nation  to  be  filed  with  the  comptroller 
of  the  currency.     Owing  to  some  informality,  a  delay  occurred  in 


128  THE    MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

the  department  at  Washington,  and  when  the  charter  was  issued 
it  was  the  eleventh,  instead  of  the  sixth,  but  was  the  first  national 
bank  to  be  chartered  and  organized  in  Indiana.  This  was  in  May, 
1863,  that  the  bank  opened  with  an  authorized  capital  of  five  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars. 

Joseph  D.  Nuttman  was  the  first  president  elected,  Samuel  Han- 
na,  vice-president,  and  William  B.  Fisher,  cashier.  The  directors 
were  Joseph  D.  Nuttman,  Joseph  Brackenridge,  John  Brown,  John 
Orff,  John  M.  Miller,  Amos  S.  Evans,  Warren  H.  Withers,  Fred- 
erick Nirdlinger  and  Alfred  D.  Brandriff.  The  bank  started  on  a 
paid-up  capital  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  which  was  in- 
creased in  the  following  June  by  fifty  thousand  dollars;  in  July, 
1865,  fifty  thousand  dollars;  in  December,  1871,  one  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars;  April,  1874,  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  November  10, 
1875,  another  fifty  thousand  dollars,  making  a  total  paid-up  capital 
of  four  hundred  thousand  dollars.  This  was  afterward  reduced  in 
December,  1878,  to  three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  upon  which 
the  bank  continued  to  do  business  for  many  years.  In  July,  1866, 
Judge  Hanna  died,  and  John  Orff  succeeded  him  as  vice-president. 
The  bank  went  into  liquidation  May  22,  1882,  the  number  of  years 
of  its  charter  having  expired,  and  the  bank  was  reorganized.  Dur- 
ing his  presidency  of  this  bank  Mr.  Nuttman,  together  with  Jesse 
Niblick  and  David  Studebaker,  organized  the  County  Bank  of 
Decatur,  and  in  1883,  after  the  bank  reorganized  on  the  expiration 
of  its  charter,  he  retired  from  the  presidency  of  the  First  National, 
and  sold  out  his  stock,  in  order  to  give  his  attention  to  a  private 
bank  which  he  had  established  as  Nuttman  &  Company,  under  the 
management  of  Oliver  S.  Hanna,  his  son-in-law.  On  Mr.  Nutt- 
man's  retirement  Oscar  A.  Simons  was  elected  president  of  the 
First  National,  and  upon  his  death,  in  1887,  John  H.  Bass  was 
elected  president,  with  Lem  R.  Hartman  as  cashier  and  William 
L.  Pettit  assistant  cashier.     Mr.  Bass  has  been  president  ever  since. 

At  the  expiration  of  its  second  chartered  term  the  bank  reorgan- 
ized, late  in  1891,  with  John  H.  Bass  as  president,  Charles  H.  Wor- 
den,  vice-president;  Henry  R.  Freeman,  cashier,  and  J.  H.  Orr,  as- 
sistant cashier.  From  the  organization  of  the  bank  its  place  of  busi- 
ness was  the  southeast  corner  of  Main  and  Court  streets,  but  it 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  129 

moved  from  there,  in  October,  1894,  to  its  present  commodious 
home  on  Calhoun  street,  just  south  of  the  Aveline  House. 

In  the  summer  of  1905  negotiations  were  quietly  carried  on  with 
the  White  National  Bank  for  a  merger  of  the  two,  which  was  ac- 
complished so  that  the  announcement  was  made  to  the  public  on 
the  7th  of  August,  when  the  agreements  had  been  signed,  and  all 
completed  that  could  be  done  without  the  approval  of  the  treasury 
department  of  the  United  States  government  and  the  formal  rati- 
fication of  the  stockholders.  The  reasons  given  for  the  merger  of 
the  White  into  the  First  National  were  that  Fort  Wayne  needed 
an  institution  of  large  resources  in  order  to  finance  legitimate  en- 
terprises of  large  caliber;  that  the  combination  of  the  two,  with  a 
capital  and  surplus  of  $750,000,  with  discount  line  of  $2,619,030, 
and  total  resources  of  $4,364,364,  would  enable  the  bank  to  do  that 
work;  that  the  combination  would  afford  economy  in  management 
and  conduct  of  the  business;  and  that  in  every  way  the  new  bank 
would  be  better  equipped  for  the  necessities  of  a  growing  city.  On 
the  1 8th  of  August  the  stockholders  of  the  First  National  Bank 
held  a  meeting  and  added  John  W.  White,  Edward  White,  Max 
B.  Fisher,  S.  S.  Fisher,  Robert  L.  Romy  and  Henry  J.  Miller  to 
the  directorate.  This  increased  the  number  of  directors  of  the  First 
National  Bank  to  twenty-one,  leaving  four  vacancies,  under  the  reso- 
lution passed  by  the  directors  at  their  previous  meeting.  The  resolu- 
tion left  it  optional  with  the  stockholders  to  elect  from  fifteen  to 
twenty-five  directors.  There  were  formerly  fifteen  members  of  the 
board,  and  this  election  increased  the  number  to  twenty-one. 

The  articles  of  association  were  changed  to  provide  for  a  sliding 
scale  of  from  fifteen  to  twenty-five  directors,  and  it  is  expected  the 
directorate  will  be  completed  in  January  next,  when  the  full  amount 
of  stock  will  have  been  subscribed,  either  by  the  White  Bank  stock- 
holders or  new  subscribers. 

Under  the  original  terms  of  consolidation  the  White  Bank  people 
agreed  to  take  up  fifty  thousand  dollars  of  the  additional  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  stock,  with  an  option  on  the  entire  issue. 

On  Saturday,  the  25th  day  of  August,  1905,  the  formal  consoli- 
dation of  the  White  and  First  National  banks  was  effected,  when 
the  effects,  cash  and  accounts  of  the  White  Bank  were  transferred 
9 


130  THE    MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

to  the  First  National  Bank.  The  formal  action  of  the  directors  and 
stockholders  of  the  White  Bank  was  taken  at  a  meeting  the  day 
before,  when  the  assignment  of  the  bonds  to  the  First  National  was 
authorized.  John  W.  White,  president  of  the  White  Bank,  was 
named  as  liquidating  agent.  Immediately  at  the  close  of  business 
at  noon  the  transferring  of  the  effects  to  the  First  Bank  was  com- 
menced. The  entire  clerical  force  of  the  White  Bank,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  Assistant  Cashier  W.  H.  Rohan,  who  goes  to  the  Old 
National,  was  retained  by  the  First  National,  and  the  new  institu- 
tion, if  such  it  might  be  called,  now  has  a  force  of  twenty-one  em- 
ployes. The  official  roster  of  the  First  National  Bank  is  as  follows : 
President,  John  H.  Bass;  first  vice-president  and  chief  executive 
officer,  Charles  H.  Worden;  second  vice-president  and  assistant  ex- 
ecutive officer,  Harry  A.  Keplinger;  cashier,  Henry  R.  Freeman; 
assistant  cashier,  J.  H.  Orr;  receiving  teller,  A-K,  Ed  N.  Detzer; 
receiving  teller,  L-Z,  Charles  Auman;  discount  teller,  Edward  F. 
Sheumann;  collection  teller,  Ralph  Willson;  assistant  tellers,  Frank 
Rouzer,  Otto  Heiny;  general  bookkeeper,  E.  L.  Hobrock;  assistant 
general  bookkeeper,  Carl  Sihler;  individual  bookkeepers,  Edwin  H. 
Orr,  George  N.  Gilliom,  J.  L.  Tucker;  cash  item  clerk,  Urban 
Eckles ;  collection  clerks,  Henry  W.  Meyer  and  Fred  Potthoff ;  ste- 
nographer, Mrs.  Ada  H.  Bulger.  The  board  of  directors  of  the 
First  Bank  is  composed  of  Messrs.  John  H.  Bass,  F.  J.  Hayden,  E. 
F.  Yarnelle,  C.  A.  Wilding,  Fred  S.  Hunting,  Herman  Frei burger, 
Will  A.  Fleming,  William  Geake,  F.  E.  Hoffman,  J.  H.  Jacobs,  J. 
B.  McKim,  B.  Paul  Mossman,  A.  B.  Trentman,  Judge  W.  J.  Vesey 
and  C.  H.  Worden,  elected  at  the  last  annual  meeting  of  the  First 
Bank,  and  Messrs.  John  W.  White,  Edward  White,  Max  B.  Fisher, 
Samuel  S.  Fisher,  R.  L.  Romy  and  H.  J.  Miller,  of  the  White  Bank, 
who  have  recently  been  elected.  Its  official  financial  statement  is 
as  follows : 

RESOURCES. 

Loans    and    discounts $2,437,851.77 

Overdrafts   11,486.77 

United  States  bonds  for  circulation 527,676.87 

Banking  house  furniture  and  fixtures 64,470.00 

Other   real    estate 23,001.28 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  131 

CASH    MEANS. 

Due   from  Banks $585,479.88 

Due  from  United  States  Treasurer. .     33,000.00 

United   States  bonds 7,440.00 

Other  stocks  and  bonds 168,305.27 

Cash    on   hand 338,717.31  1,132,942.46 

Total $4,197,429.15 

LIABILITIES. 

Capital    stock $    500,000.00 

Surplus  and  undivided  profits 260,217.45 

Circulation     500,000.00 

Deposits    2,937,211.70 

Total    $4,197,429.15 

Of  the  thirty-six  original  stockholders  of  the  bank  when  organ- 
ized in  1863,  only  three  are  living  in  1905 — Solomon  Bash,  Abra- 
ham Oppenheimer  and  J.  F.  W.  Meyer.  The  record  of  the  bank 
has  been  an  excellent  one,  and  it  will  doubtless  have  yet  a  long  life 
of  continued  honor  and  usefulness. 

THE   MERCHANTS'  NATIONAL  BANK  OF   FORT  WAYNE. 

This  bank  was  organized  March  15,  1865.  That  is,  its  stock  was 
fully  subscribed,  officers  and  directors  chosen,  and  charter  applied 
for  at  that  time,  but  its  charter  was  dated  May  1,  1865.  It  com- 
menced business  at  the  northwest  corner  of  Berry  and  Calhoun 
streets,  on  part  of  lot  No.  106,  original  plat,  but  later  removed  to 
the  northwest  corner  of  Main  and  Calhoun,  on  part  of  lot  No.  yy, 
original  plat,  the  present  site  of  the  Hamilton  National  Bank,  where 
it  remained  until  its  liquidation  in  1874-5.  Its  first  officers  were: 
Peter  P.  Bailey,  president ;  Dwight  Klinck,  cashier ;  directors,  Peter 
P.  Bailey,  Sol  D.  Bayless,  David  F.  Comparet,  George  L.  Little 
and  John  Studebaker. 

The  president  had  been  a  captain  and  connected  with  the  quarter- 
master's department  during  the  Civil  war,  resigned,  and  became 
interested  in  the  purchase  of  contraband  and  confiscated  cotton, 
amassing  a  considerable  fortune.  Dwight  Klinck  was  from  Bluff- 
ton,  where,  as  a  grain  speculator,  he  had  acquired  wealth.  He 
started  on  a  trip  to  Europe,  after  severing  his  connection  with  the 


132  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

bank,  intending  to  interest  English  and  continental  capitalists  in  a 
scheme  he  was  promoting,  but  the  steamer  on  which  he  sailed  went 
to  the  bottom  off  the  southern  coast  of  England,  with  all  on  board. 
In  July,  1866,  Samuel  Cary  Evans  was  elected  president,  and  Dr. 
John  S.  Irwin  cashier.  This  was  to  fill  a  vacancy  caused  by  the 
resignation  of  D wight  Klinck  on  the  13th  of  December,  1865,  and 
which  had  been  temporarily  filled  until  the  election  in  July  follow- 
.  ing.  Dr.  Irwin  resigned  as  cashier  in  February,  1873,  and  Charles 
M.  Dawson,  who  had  been  for  some  time  assistant  cashier,  was 
appointed  ad  interim,  and  in  January,  1874,  was  regularly  elected 
to  fill  the  vacancy.  After  the  dissolution  of  the  bank,  he  entered 
the  profession  of  the  law,  became  prosecuting  attorney,  and  later 
judge  of  the  superior  court  of  Allen  county,  and  died  while  the 
incumbent  of  that  office.  Mr.  Evans  had  become  the  holder  of  a 
majority  of  the  stock,  and  was  the  mainstay  and  manager  of  the 
bank,  which  became  one  of  the  safe  and  profitable  banking  insti- 
tutions of  the  city,  but  his  health  became  precarious,  he  had  pur- 
chased a  half  interest  in  the  lands  of  San  Bernardino  county,  Cali- 
fornia, which  were  subject  to  irrigation,  and  its  financial  affairs 
demanded  his  personal  attention.  Convinced  in  his  own  mind  that 
both  reasons  of  finance  and  health  demanded  that  he  go  to  Califor- 
nia, he  cast  about  for  means  to  sell  out  his  stock  holdings,  or  to 
reorganize  the  bank  in  such  manner  as  to  free  his  capital,  for  use 
in  his  Riverside  property,  but  finally  concluded  to  place  the  bank 
in  liquidation  by  surrender  of  the  charter,   which  was   done   in 

I874-5. 

At  the  time  the  bank  closed  for  business  its  officers  were :  Sam- 
uel Cary  Evans,  president;  Robert  S.  Robertson,  vice-president; 
Charles  M.  Dawson,  cashier;  directors,  Samuel  C.  Evans,  Robert 
S.  Robertson,  Henry  C.  Hanna,  Nathaniel  P.  Stockbridge  and 
Charles  M.  Dawson.  Its  authorized  capital  was  three  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  but  it  was  doing  business  on  one  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  paid-up  capital,  with  a  surplus  capital  of  eleven  thou- 
sand dollars  in  1874.  It  was  considered  a  safe,  conservative  and 
well  managed  bank,  and  had  a  fair  share  of  the  deposits  of  the  busi- 
ness enterprises  in  Fort  Wayne. 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  133 

Mr.  Evans  succeeded  in  his  California  venture,  and  died  there, 
a  few  years  since,  with  high  rank  and  standing  in  the  financial 
world. 

THE  WHITE  NATIONAL  BANK  OF  FORT  WAYNE. 

This  bank  was  organized  principally  through  the  efforts  of  James 
B.  White  and  his  son,  John  W.  White,  who  became  its  president. 
Hon.  James  B.  White  had  long  been  one  of  the  most  active  and  pro- 
gressive merchants  of  Fort  Wayne,  a  man  who  anticipated  and  used 
the  plan  of  the  modern  "department"  store  long  before  it  was  in 
use  here  or  elsewhere.  He  had  served  in  congress  from  the  twelfth 
district  of  Indiana,  and  was  a  "man  of  affairs"  generally. 

The  stock  was  subscribed,  charter  applied  for  and  was  issued 
April  15,  1892,  and  on  the  25th  of  that  month  opened  for  business 
in  a  fine  building  erected  for  its  use  by  Mr.  White  on  the  northwest 
corner  of  Wayne  and  Clinton  streets. 

John  W.  White,  oldest  son  of  the  founder,  was  elected  its  first 
president;  Thomas  B.  Hedekin,  vice-president;  Harry  A.  Kep- 
linger,  cashier,  and  Gustav  G.  Detzer,  assistant  cashier.  The  direc- 
tors were  James  B.  White,  Ronald  T.  McDonald,  Solomon  Roths- 
child, Robert  L.  Romy,  David  C.  Fisher,  John  W.  White  and 
Thomas  B.  Hedekin.  Its  capital  was  two  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars. None  of  the  officers,  except  Cashier  Keplinger,  who  came 
to  the  bank  after  long  service  as  clerk  and  teller  of  the  Hamilton 
National,  had  had  any  experience  in  banking,  but  the  president, 
John  W.  White,  with  a  business  training  from  boyhood,  and  active 
participation  in  several  manufacturing  works,  soon  became  known 
in  banking  circles  as  a  banker  of  ability,  and  established  a  bank 
whose  stock  was  quoted  far  above  its  face  value. 

During  the  summer  of  1905  negotiations  were  quietly  carried 
on,  looking  toward  its  consolidation  with  the  First  National.  This 
proposition  was  considered  by  the  White  National  solely  for  the 
reasons,  first,  that  Mr.  White,  the  president,  had  other  large  inter- 
ests to  which  he  desired  to  give  personal  attention,  and  which  re- 
quired more  attention  than  he  could  give  them  while  so  closely  en- 
gaged in  the  requirements  of  the  business  of  the  bank,  and,  second, 
that  the  union  of  two  such  banks  as  the  First  and  the  White  would 


134  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

make  a  bank  so  strong  that  it  could  successfully  cope  with  the  grow- 
ing demands  of  a  city  such  as  Fort  Wayne  has  grown  to  be.  On  the 
1 8th  of  August,  1905,  the  articles  of  consolidation  were  perfected 
and  forwarded  to  Washington  for  approval,  and  the  union  was 
practically  completed.  When  the  final  contracts  were  made,  John 
W.  White  was  president,  Samuel  S.  Fisher,  vice-president,  Harry 
A.  Keplinger,  cashier,  and  W.  H.  Rohan,  assistant  cashier.  The 
directors  were  Sol  Rothschild,  Jacob  Colter,  Edward  White,  David 
C.  Fisher,  Samuel  S.  Fisher,  Robert  L.  Romy  and  John  W.  White. 
Its  capital  was  $200,000,  surplus  and  profits,  $129,508.83.  Its  last 
report  makes  this  showing: 

RESOURCES. 

Loans  and  discounts $1,275,979.64 

Overdrafts   3,597.01 

United  States  bonds,  to  secure  circulation. . . .      200,000.00 
Banking  house,   furniture   and   fixtures 56,970.00 

CASH    MEANS. 

U.  S.  bonds  and  premiums $  19,789.37 

Stocks,  securities,  etc 8,202.26 

Due  from  Banks 316,815.35 

Due  from  United  States  Treasurer. .     10,000.00 

Cash   on   hand 302,626.24      657,433.22 

Total    $2,193,979.87 

LIABILITIES. 

Capital  stock  paid  in $    200,000.00 

Surplus  and  profits 129,508.83 

Circulation     200,000.00 

Deposits    u  1,664,471.04 

Total    $2,193,979.87 

There  are  many  in  Fort  Wayne  who  will  regret  the  closing  of 
the  White  National  Bank,  but  there  are  none  to  question  its  finan- 
cial and  banking  record.  Fuller  statement  as  to  the  consolidation 
will  be  found  in  the  preceding  reference  to  the  First  National  Bank. 
The  White  National  finally  closed  its  affairs  and  the  doors  of  its 
bank  at  the  close  of  banking  hours,  Saturday,  August  26,  1905, 
when  its  books  and  assets  were  transferred  to  the  First  National. 

THE  GERMAN-AMERICAN  NATIONAL  BANK. 

This  bank  opened  for  business  May  20,  1905,  in  its  handsome 
and  convenient  banking  house  on  Court  street,  opposite  the  court 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  135 

house,  with  the  following  officers:  Samuel. M.  Foster,  president; 
Theo.  Wentz,  first  vice-president;  Charles  F.  Pfeiffer,  second  vice- 
president;  Henry  C.  Berghoff,  cashier.  The  directors  were  Henry 
Beadell,  Gustave  A.  Berghoff,  Christopher  R.  Colmey,  Robert  W. 
T.  DeWald,  David  N.  Foster,  Charles  Kramer,  J.  B.  Niezer,  Charles 
F.  Pfeiffer,  A.  H.  Perfect,  Jesse  F.  Patterson,  James  M.  Robinson, 
Maurice  I.  Rosenthal,  Ernst  C.  Rurode,  W.  H.  Shambaugh,  Theo- 
dore F.  Thieme,  Samuel  M.  Foster,  Theo.  Wentz. 

Steps  toward  the  organization  of  the  new  bank  began  in  1904, 
though  the  belief  that  there  was  ample  field  for  a  new  financial  in- 
stitution of  this  character  in  Fort  Wayne  had  been  held  for  some 
time  prior  to  that  date  by  many  of  the  men  who  are  now  active 
spirits  in  the  new  organization.  Active  work  began  when  Theo- 
dore Wentz,  who  had  been  for  several  years  prominently  connected 
with  banking  institutions  at  Fostoria  and  other  Ohio  points,  came 
to  Fort  Wayne  seeking  a  field  for  a  new  national  bank.  He  quickly 
enlisted  the  interest  of  Samuel  M.  Foster  and  others  and  a  little  in- 
quiry demonstrated  that  stock  in  the  institution  would  be  eagerly 
purchased.  The  stock  was  quickly  subscribed,  the  capital 
stock  of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  being  divided  among  almost 
two  hundred  stockholders,  no  one  person  owning  a  larger  block  of 
stock  than  eight  thousand  dollars,  and  but  very  few  so  large  a  sum 
as  this.  It  is  said  that  the  stock  is  so  widely  distributed  that  no 
forty  stockholders  can  constitute  a  majority  of  the  shares  and  thus 
control  the  policy  of  the  institution.     The  bank's  official  number  is 

7724. 

Of  the  officers,  Samuel  M.  Foster  is  well  known  as  a  manufac- 
turer and  a  foremost  citizen  of  Fort  Wayne,  with  large  property 
interests.  He  is  president  of  the  Fort  Wayne  Knitting  Mills  and 
vice-president  of  the  Fort  Wayne  Trust  Company.  Mr.  Pfeiffer  is 
vice-president  of  the  Citizens'  Trust  Company,  and  Mr.  Berghoff  is 
now  completing  a  term  of  four  years  as  mayor  of  Fort  Wayne. 
During  his  early  manhood  Mr.  Berghoff  was  connected  with  a 
banking  house  in  Germany.  The  official  family  of  the  German- 
American  is  made  up  of  substantial,  clear-headed  business  men  of 
extensive  means,  whose  connection  with  any  enterprise  is  a  guaran- 
tee of  its  high  standing.     Mr.  Wentz  is  not  so  well  known  as  the 


136  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

others,  being  a  newcomer  in  Fort  Wayne.  He  is  a  native  of  Ohio 
and  was  born  at  Canal  Dover.  Practically  his  entire  business  ca- 
reer has  been  as  a  banker,  though  he  was  also  a  successful  manager 
of  extensive  traction  interests,  which  he  sold  shortly  before  remov- 
ing to  Fort  Wayne.  In  1891  Mr.  Wentz  entered  the  Exchange  Na- 
tional Bank  at  Canal  Dover,  Ohio,  as  assistant  cashier,  and  two 
years  later  resigned  to  become  cashier  of  the  First  National  Bank  of 
Canal  Dover,  a  position  which  he  retained  until  last  January,  con- 
tinuing in  the  position  even  after  having  removed  from  Canal  Do- 
ver. When  electric  lines  began  spreading  their  network  over  Ohio 
Mr.  Wentz  took  a  part  in  their  development  and  was  secretary, 
treasurer  and  general  manager  of  the  Toledo,  Fostoria  and  Findlay 
Railway  Company.  To  better  look  after  his  duties  in  this  position 
Mr.  Wentz  removed  to  Fostoria,  where  he  became  a  charter  mem- 
ber and  one  of  the  directors  of  the  Commercial  Bank  and  Savings 
Company.  He  was  also  president  of  the  Adams  Car  Company  and 
of  the  Tuscarawas  Electric  Company  at  Canal  Dover,  disposing  of 
his  interests  here  when  he  determined  to  remove  to  Fort  Wayne. 

The  German- American  is  a  member  of  the  Fort  Wayne  Clear- 
ing House  Association,  transacts  all  branches  of  banking  and  has 
inaugurated  a  savings  department,  which  is  a  new  feature  with  the 
national  banks  of  this  city.  It  is  recognized  as  a  most  notable  addi- 
tion to  the  splendid  organizations  which  make  up  Fort  Wayne's 
great  financial  fabric. 

The  capital  of  the  bank  is  $200,000,  and  in  little  more  than  a 
week  after  opening  its  deposit  account  was  $149,230.53.  Its  latest 
financial  report  was  as  follows : 

RESOURCES. 


Loans   and    discounts $323,978.98 

U.  S.  bonds  to  secure  circulation 50,000.00 

Premiums  on  U.  S.  bonds 2,339.38 

Bonds,  securities,  etc 9,925.00 

Banking  house,  furniture  and  fixtures 28,555.29 

Due  from  State  Banks  and  bankers 1,043.45 

Due  from  approved  reserve  agents 69,663.06 

Checks  and  other  cash  items 77.81 

Exchanges   for   clearing  house 20,927.93 

Notes  of  other  National  Banks.. 10,890.00 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  137 

Fractional   paper,  currency, nickels  and  cents.. $         446.33 
Lawful  money  reserve  in  bank,  viz: 

Specie    $40,000 

Legal  tender  notes 8,000     48,000.00 

Redemption  fund  with  U.  S.  Treasurer   (5  per 

cent,  of  circulation) ,      2,500.00 

Total     , $568,347.23 

LIABILITIES. 

Capital   stock   paid    in $200,000.00 

Undivided  profits,  less  expenses  and  taxes  paid  4,259.03 

National  Bank  notes  outstanding 50,000.00 

Due  to  other  National  Banks 12,468.04 

Due  to  State  Banks  and  hankers 14,452.27 

Individual  deposits  subject  to  check 137,877.91 

Demand  certificates  of  deposit 144,809.98 

Cashier's    checks    outstanding 4,480.00 

Total     $568,347.23 

THE   NUTTMAN   &   CO.    BANK   OF   FORT   WAYNE. 

Joseph  Dayton  Nuttman,  the  founder  of  this  bank,  a  private  in- 
stitution, was  born  in  Elizabeth,  New  Jersey,  in  18 16  and  came  to 
Fort  Wayne  in  1830,  becoming  a  clerk  in  the  Townley  store,  north- 
west corner  of  Calhoun  and  Columbia  streets.  In  1841  he  went  to 
Decatur,  Adams  county,  and  entered  into  a  mercantile  business  on 
his  own  account,  but  kept  up  an  intimate  connection  with  Fort 
Wayne,  to  which  place  he  returned  in  1861,  after  closing  out  a  suc- 
cessful business  at  Decatur. 

In  that  year  he  established  a  private  bank  on  the  corner  of  Berry 
and  Calhoun  streets,  where  the  Old  National  Bank  is  now  located, 
under  the  name  of  the  Citizens'  Bank.  The  exact  date  is  not 
known,  but  draft  No.  589  was  dated  March  3,  1861.  William  B. 
Fisher  was  his  assistant.  Fisher  afterwards  became  cashier  of  the 
First  National  and  on  the  reorganization  of  that  bank  went  to  New 
York  and  was  there  identified  with  several  strong  financial  institu- 
tions. 

On  the  passage  by  congress  of  the  national  banking  law  in  1863 
Mr.  Nuttman,  uniting  with  Hon.  Samuel  Hanna  and  several  prom- 
inent business  men  of  the  city,  organized  the  First  National  Bank 
and  became  its  president.    In  1881  Mr.  Nuttman  decided  practically 


138  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

to  retire  from  participation  in  active  financial  affairs,  to  sell  out  his 
large  holdings  in  the  First  National  and  resign  from  its  presidency, 
which  he  did  in  1882,  and  immediately,  in  accordance  with  a  plan 
long  before  made,  established,  in  October,  1882,  the  banking  house 
of  Nuttman  &  Company.  Its  place  of  business  was  then,  and  is 
yet,  on  Main  street,  just  west  of  the  old  banking  site  of 
the  Branch  Bank  of  the  State. 

Associated  with  him  were  his  son,  Joseph  D.  Nuttman,  Jr.,  and 
son-in-law,  Oliver  S.  Hanna.  On  Mr.  Hanna  devolved  the  active 
management  of  the  business  by  reason  of  the  determination  of  Mr. 
Nuttman,  Sr.,  to  retire,  and  the  fact  that  Mr.  Nuttman,  Jr.,  was  in 
feeble  health.  Mr.  Hanna  had  entered  the  First  National  Bank 
when  about  twenty-one,  remaining  with  it  for  some  years,  acquiring 
an  education  in  the  affairs  and  business  of  a  bank,  but  left  it  to  en- 
gage for  himself  in  a  wholesale  mercantile  business,  becoming  a  di- 
rector of  the  First  National  and  remaining  in  that  position  until  the 
reorganization  of  that  bank  and  the  formation  of  the  Nuttman  & 
Co.  Bank. 

J.  D.  Nuttman,  Sr.,  died  March  18,  1884,  and  J.  D.  Nuttman,  Jr., 
September  6,  1890,  leaving  the  sole  management  in  the  hands  of 
Oliver  S.  Hanna,  who,  with  his  wife,  Mrs.  M.  E.  Hanna,  are  the 
sole  owners  of  the  bank.  It  has  always  been  a  profitable,  safe  and 
conservative  unit  in  the  banking  houses  of  the  city. 

FORT  WAYNE  SAVINGS  BANK. 

This  bank  was  organized  by  John  Hough  in  1869,  and  opened 
for  business  just  north  of  the  alley  between  Berry  and  Main,  on 
Calhoun  street.  The  first  deposit  noted  in  book  No.  45  was  dated 
July  1 2th  of  that  year.  It  was  managed  by  John  Hough,  who<  was 
largely  engaged  in  real  estate  and  insurance  business,  and  his  as- 
sistant, David  C.  Fisher.  The  officers  were :  Alexander  C.  Hues- 
tis,  president;  Warren  H.  Withers,  vice-president;  George  Dewald, 
second  vice-president;  John  Hough,  treasurer;  E.  L.  Sturgis,  secre- 
tary. John  H.  Bass,  William  T.  Pratt,  Henry  Baker,  John  Morris, 
George  Dewald  and  Warren  H.  Withers  composed  the  board  of 
investment.    It  had  quite  a  volume  of  business,  but  the  laws  of  the 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  139 

state  so  restricted  the  investments  of  savings  banks  that  it  did  not 
long  remain  in  existence,  and  upon  Mr.  Hough's  death,  January  30, 
1875,  its  affairs  were  fully  wound  up. 

Prior  to  its  organization  Mr.  Hough  had  operated  on  a  small 
scale  a  bank  of  deposit  and  discount,  but  little  is  known  of  it  now. 
The  savings  bank  was  moved  to  the  new  building  on  East  Berry 
street  in  1872. 

THE  BANKING  HOUSE  OF  ISAAC  LAUFERTY. 

This  private  bank  was  established  early  in  the  '70s  in  a  room  on 
Calhoun  street  opposite  the  court  house,  and  later  removed  to  the 
room  of  the  Aveline  House  block,  now  occupied  by  the  Commercial 
Bank  of  Straus  Brothers  &  Company. 

Mr.  Lauferty  had  been  a  successful  clothing  merchant  and  closed 
out  that  business  to  become  a  private  banker,  continuing  in  that 
line  with  his  son,  Alexander  Lauferty,  as  his  assistant,  until  his 
death  about  1891.    It  was  simply  a  bank  of  loans  and  discounts. 

THE  CHENEY  BANK. 

About  the  same  time  James  Cheney,  late  deceased,  opened  a  pri- 
vate bank  of  loans  and  discounts  only.  It  did  not  have  a  long  ca- 
reer, and  was  closed  by  the  proprietor  voluntarily. 

THE  COMMERCIAL  BANK STRAUS  BROTHERS   &  COMPANY. 

This  bank  was  established  as  a  private  bank  in  1902  and  is  lo- 
cated in  the  Aveline  House  block  on  Calhoun  street.  It  is  managed 
in  connection  with  a  large  real  estate  business,  conducted  by  the  firm 
of  Straus  Brothers  &  Company  in  several  sections  of  the  coun- 
try, with  their  principal  office  in  Ligonier.  The  original  firm:  con- 
sisted of  three  brothers,  who  came  in  the  '50s  from  the  Rheinpfalz, 
in  Germany.  In  1870  they  established  the  Citizens'  Bank  in  Ligo- 
nier, which  still  exists.  On  the  demise  of  the  elders  the  business 
was  assumed  by  Simon  J.  Straus,  Isaac  D.  Straus  and  Abe  Gold- 
smith, sons  and  son-in-law  of  Jacob  Straus.     In  1898  they  organ- 


140  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

ized,  at  Albion,  the  Farmers'  Bank,  with  Abe  Ackerman  as  man- 
ager, and  in  1902  he  came  to  Fort  Wayne  as  manager  of  the  Com- 
mercial Bank.  In  1904  they  established  the  Auburn  State  Bank 
under  the  management  of  Jacob  Schloss,  and  the  State  Bank  of  To- 
peka,  Indiana,  managed  by  J.  N.  Babcock.  Each  of  these  banks  has 
a  real  estate  department,  and  all  are  managed  from  the  principal  of- 
fice, or  headquarters,  at  Ligonier. 

Max  C.  Meyer  is  cashier  of  the  Commercial  Bank  at  Fort 
Wayne.  In  1904  Straus  Brothers  &  Company  claim  to  have  done 
a  real  estate  business  of  thirty  thousand  acres,  amounting  to 
$2,500,000. 

BANK   OF    WAYNE. 

This  bank,  situated  at  127  East  Berry  street,  was  established  in 
1903  by  the  Sol  Mier  Company,  bankers  and  extensive  dealers  in 
farm  lands  in  the  Central  states.  Although  the  latter  is  the  chief 
feature  of  their  business,  they  conduct  a  general  banking  business, 
and  have  every  facility  for  modern  banking,  and  are  provided  with 
burglar-proof  safes,  safety  deposit  vaults  and  all  that  banking  busi- 
ness requires. 

The  Sol  Mier  Company,  composed  of  Sol  Mier,  Abe  Mier,  Sam- 
uel Mier  and  Isaac  Rose,  is  also  proprietor  of  the  Mier  State  Bank 
at  Ligonier,  Indiana,  formerly  the  banking  house  of  Sol  Mier,  es- 
tablished in  1855,  and  the  Cromwell  State  Bank  at  Cromwell,  In- 
diana, and  has  real  estate  offices  at  each  of  these  places,  and  at  La- 
grange, Indiana,  and  Constantine,  Michigan.  Sol  Mier,  the  organ- 
izer and  head,  is  a  man  of  enterprise,  of  advanced  ideas  and  of  care- 
ful consideration.  He  has  qualities  which  have  made  him  one  of 
the  most  successful  business  men  in  the  Central  West. 

Isaac  Rose  is  the  manager  of  the  bank  and  real  estate  business  at 
Fort  Wayne,  with  Harry  Soloman  as  cashier. 

THE    CITIZENS^   STATE  BANK   OF   MONROEVILLE. 

This  bank  was  organized  as  a  private  bank  July  22,  1891,  under 
the  name  of  the  Citizens'  Bank.  J.  B.  Niezer  and  C.  P.  Mitchell 
were  proprietors,  and  Mitchell  was  cashier.     It  incorporated  under 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  141 

the  laws  of  the  state  October  24,  1892,  with  a  paid-up  capital  of 
thirty  thousand  dollars,  under  the  name  of  Citizens'  State  Bank  of 
Monroeville.  Its  first  officers  were :  J.  B.  Niezer,  president ;  Chris- 
tian Youse,  vice-president,  and  C.  P.  Mitchell,  cashier.  In  1902 
Mr.  Youse  died  and  Henry  Krick  became  vice-president.  It  owns 
its  own  banking  house  and  reports  a  surplus  of  $4,299;  deposits, 
$130,147;  loans  and  discounts,  $103,638;  bonds  and  real  estate, 
$9,740;  cash  and  exchange,  $43,016.  Certainly  it  has  a  flourishing 
business  for  a  country  village,  and  is  a  proof  of  the  substantial  pros- 
perity of  the  county. 

THE  WOODBURN  BANKING  COMPANY. 

This  banking  house  was  organized  at  Woodburn,  an  active  sta- 
tion on  the  Pittsburg,  Fort  Wayne  &  Chicago  Railroad,  in  1902, 
under  the  banking  laws  of  the  state,  with  a  capital  of  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars.     It  reports  as  follows : 

EESOURCES. 

Loans   and    discounts $51,321.88 

Overdrafts 29.86 

Due  from  Banks  and  bankers 6,332.46 

Banking   house 1,386.43 

Furniture   and   fixtures 1,292.17 

Current  expenses 223.43 

Interest    paid 31.99 

Cash  on  hand — 

Currency   $2,351.00 

Specie 1,896.73  4,247.73 

Cash    items 36.88 

Total $64,902.83 

LIABILITIES. 

Capital  stock  paid  in $25,000.00 

Surplus    fund 1 750.00 

Undivided    profits 116.37 

Discount,   exchange   and   interest 246.19 

Deposits  subject  to  check 14,819.35 

Certificates  on  deposit 23,970.92 

Total    $64,902.83 


1 42  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

THE  ZANESVIILE  STATE  BANK. 

This  bank  was  first  organized  in  1902  at  Zanesville,  Allen  county, 
under  the  name  of  Knight  Brothers,  as  a  private  bank.  The  Knight 
brothers  were  merchants  and  took  up  banking  as  a  side  line,  and 
when  the  state  banking  law  of  1905  was  enacted  they  determined  to 
incorporate  under  the  law,  and  did  so,  with  a  capital  of  ten  thou- 
sand dollars,  and  with  O.  A.  Knight  as  president  and  A.  L.  Knight, 
cashier.  It  exchanges  through  the  Old  National  Bank  of  Fort 
Wayne,  and  is  doing  a  nourishing  business. 

THE    FORT    WAYNE   TRUST    COMPANY. 

The  trust  companies  formed  here  are  perhaps  not  strictly  banks, 
although  they  transact  nearly  every  branch  of  banking  business  ex- 
cept that  of  issuing  notes  as  a  circulating  medium,  and  loaning  on 
personal  property.  They  issue  certificates  of  deposit,  pay  interest  on 
deposits,  pay  interest  on  savings  accounts  and  loan  money  on  real  es- 
tate security,  and  form  a  large  part  of  the  financial  machinery  of 
Fort  Wayne. 

The  Fort  Wayne  Trust  Company  was  formed  by  filing  its  articles 
of  incorporation  April  6,  1898,  with  a  capital  stock  of  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  half  of  which  was  paid  in.  Its  officers  were: 
Henry  C.  Paul,  president;  Samuel  M.  Foster,  vice-president;  A.  Ely 
Hoffman,  second  vice-president;  William  Paul,  secretary,  and  Wil- 
liam J.  Probasco,  assistant  secretary.  Its  directors  were: 
Henry  C.  Paul,  George  W.  Pixley,  Samuel  M.  Foster,  Charles  S. 
Bash,  William  E.  Mossman,  Charles  A.  Wilding,  William  J.  Vesey, 
Andrew  E.  Hoffman,  John  C.  Peters,  Louis  Fox,  Gottlieb  Haller 
and  Ernest  W.  Cook.  Upon  the  death  of  William  Paul,  Emmett 
H.  McDonald  became  secretary.  Its  place  of  business  is  on  the  cor- 
ner of  Main  and  Court  streets,  where  the  First  National  Bank  com- 
menced and  for  many  years  carried  on  its  business. 

THE   CITIZENS'   TRUST    COMPANY. 

This  was  organized  as  a  corporation  by  the  officers  and  stock- 
holders of  the  Allen  County  Loan  and  Savings  Association,  Decern- 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  143 

ber  14,  1899,  with  a  capital  of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Its 
officers  were :  John  Ferguson,  president ;  F.  L.  Jones,  first  vice- 
president;  Herman  Michael,  second  vice-president;  C.  H.  Newton, 
third  vice-president,  and  Ernest  W.  Cook,  secretary.  The  directors 
were :  Ernest  W.  Cook,  Owen  N.  Heaton,  Charles  W.  Orr,  Gott- 
lieb Haller,  F.  L.  Jones,  H.  A.  Keplinger,  Isador  Lehman,  Herman 
Michael,  George  W.  Beers,  John  P.  Evans,  John  Ferguson, 
Charles  H.  Newton.  The  officers  remain  the  same,  only  that  Vice- 
President  Newton  resigned  the  office  because  of  removing  his  resi- 
dence to  Toledo,  and  Charles  F.  Pfeiffer  was  elected  to  fill  the  va- 
cancy. The  directory  has  also  undergone  but  little  change,  Owen 
N.  Heaton  being  elected  to  the  position  of  judge  of  the  superior 
court  and  resigning  as  a  director.  W.  D.  Henderson  was  elected 
and  later  W.  E.  Doud  and  Carl  Yaple  were  elected  in  place  of  C.  W. 
Orr  and  George  W.  Beers,  resigned.  Clinton  R.  Wilson  has  been 
added  to  the  official  staff  as  assistant  secretary. 

Its  business  is  carried  on  in  its  own  building  at  the  southwest 
corner  of  Berry  and  Clinton  streets,  and  consists  of  loans  on  mort- 
gage security  and  deposits  and  loans.  Its  annual  volume  of  busi- 
ness is  about  one  million  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  and  its  as- 
sets are  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  Its  commodious 
and  modern  safety  vaults  for  the  accommodation  of  its  patrons  are 
among  the  best  in  the  city,  and  its  patronage  is  a  large  one. 

THE  TRI-STATE  LOAN  AND  TRUST  COMPANY. 

This  company  was  organized  June  26,  1903,  with  a  capital  stock 
of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  and  the  following  officers: 
Charles  A.  Wilding,  president;  William  E.  Mossman,  vice-presi- 
dent; Louis  Fox,  second  vice-president;  George  W.  Pixley,  secre- 
tary; Frederick  C.  Heine,  assistant  secretary.  The  directors  were: 
W.  E.  Mossman,  Louis  Fox,  G.  W.  Pixley,  C.  A.  Wilding,  August 
Becker,  D.  N.  Foster,  F.  L.  Hunting,  W.  J.  Vesey,  Leo  Freiburger, 
J.  B.  McKim,  John  Dreibelbiss  and  R.  L.  Romy.  It  was  an  out- 
growth of  the  Tri-State  Building,  Loan  and  Savings  Association, 
which  was  established  in  1889.  The  changes  in  business  methods 
during  the  time  had  made  the  building  and  loan  system  a  secondary 


144  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

instead  of  a  leading  part  of  the  business,  and  the  stockholders  and 
officers  of  one  became  the  stockholders  and  officers  of  the  other 
without  material  change,  and  the  business  of  both  is  conducted  in 
the  Tri-State  building  on  the  corner  of  Berry  and  Court  streets.  Its 
last  financial  statement  is  as  follows : 

ASSETS. 

Loans  secured  by  mortgage $564,397.23 

Collateral    loans 54,703.12 

Miscellaneous    bonds 43,186.61 

Current  expenses 1,537.37 

Unpaid    capital 150,000.00 

Advanced   for   tax 152.01 

Auxiliary  saving  banks 85.00 

Cash  on  hand  and  in  banks 114,702.00 

Total    $928,763.34 

LIABILITIES. 

Capital  stock $300,000.00 

Surplus    and    undivided    profits 2,679.41 

Interest   and    fees ,. .     10,446.61 

Unpaid  dividends 157.50 

Due  on  mortgage  loan  made 16,888.54 

Deposits 598,591.28 

Total $928,763.34 

people's  TRUST  AND  SAVINGS  COMPANY. 

This  institution  opened  for  business  April  6,  1903,  on  Calhoun 
street,  between  Berry  and  Wayne,  with  a  capital  of  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  half  of  which  was  paid  in,  and  the  following  offi- 
cers :  William  L.  Moellering,  president ;  Robert  W.  T.  DeWald, 
vice-president;  James  M.  McKay,  second  vice-president,  and  Pat- 
rick J.  McDonald,  secretary  and  treasurer.  The  directors  were: 
James  M.  McKay,  William  M.  Moellering,  M.  A.  McDougal,  Pat 
J.  McDonald,  Henry  Beadell,  August  E.  C.  Becker,  William  P. 
Breen,  William  L.  Moellering,  B.  Fitzpatrick,  Robert  W.  T.  De- 
Wald, John  Morris,  Jr.,  and  William  Stephan.  Its  last  financial 
report  is  as  follows: 

ASSETS. 

Mortgage  and  collateral  loans $603,482.14  1 

Fort  Wayne  City  Bonds 10,935.45 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA. 


145 


Unpaid   capital   stock $100,000.00 

Furniture   and   fixtures 3,002.26 

Accrued    interest 5,114.19 

Insurance    department 106.75 

Expenses    3,719.11 

Cash  on   hand 101,500.73 

Total     $827,860.63 

LIABILITIES. 

Capital  stock $200,000.00 

Surplus    4,389.00 

Interest    earned , 14,380.48 

Dividends  unpaid 171.00 

Deposits    608,920.15 

Total     $827,860.63 


Reviewing  the  banking  history  of  the  county,  it  is  a  history  to 
be  proud  of,  and  challenges  comparison.  Extending  over  a  period 
of  nearly  three-quarters  of  a  century,  there  is  no  record  of  a  failure 
of  any  bank,  state,  national  or  private.  If  one  closed  its  doors,  it 
did  so  because  the  managers  desired  to  close  them,  and  not  because 
compelled  to  do  so.  Three  times  there  have  been  panics,  which  pro- 
ducd  a  "run"  upon  as  many  of  the  financial  institutions,  and  each 
time  the  doors  stood  open,  the  disbursing  officers  were  increased  in 
number,  every  one  received  his  deposit  back,  until  the  tide  turned  and 
those  who  drew  out  their  deposits  early  came  back  to  redeposit 
them,  and  the  floodtide  which  threatened,  ebbed  silently  away.  And 
in  all  that  time  there  was  no  defalcation,  no  official  dishonesty  to  re- 
cord, except  the  one  lone  instance  McCulloch  has  mentioned  in  the 
far  distant  past.  The  stock  quotations  for  August,  1905,  were  as 
follows,  the  first  figure  quoted  in  each  instance  being  the  price  bid, 
the  second  figure  price  asked:  Hamilton  National  Bank,  255,  310; 
White  National  Bank,  180;  Old  National  Bank,  158,  175;  First 
National  Bank,  158;  German-American,  105;  Fort  Wayne  Trust, 
70,  90 ;  Citizens'  Trust,  — ,  58 ;  People's  Trust,  56 ;  Tri-State  Trust, 
57,  and  goes  far  to  prove  the  standing  claimed  for  these  institu- 
tions. 
10 


146  THE   MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 


CHAPTER  VI 


BUILDING  AND  LOAN  ASSOCIATIONS. 


ALLEN  COUNTY  BUILDING  AND  LOAN  ASSOCIATION. 

This  association  was  organized  April  7,  1890,  with  a  capital  stock 
of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Officers  :  Gottlieb  Heller,  presi- 
dent; Charles  W.  Orr,  vice-president;  Ernest  W.  Cook,  secretary; 
H.  A.  Keplinger,  treasurer,  and  O.  N.  Heaton,  attorney. 

FORT  WAYNE  BUILDING,  LOAN-FUND  AND  SAVINGS  ASSOCIATION. 

This  association,  which  was  organized  on  April  11,  1884,  has  a 
capital  stock  of  one  million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  P.  J. 
McDonald  is  the  efficient  secretary.  The  regular  meetings  are  on 
the  first  Tuesday  after  the  18th  of  each  month,  the  annual  meetings 
occurring  on  the  second  Wednesday  in  May.  This  association  does 
an  extensive  business  and  is  one  of  the  solid  institutions  of  the  kind 
in  the  state. 

GERMAN    BUILDING,    LOAN    AND    SAVING   ASSOCIATION. 

This  institution,  of  which  H.  Buck  is  president,  Charles  Buek 
secretary  and  Charles  Stellhorn  treasurer,  is  also  a  popular  and  in- 
fluential organization,  doing  business  largely  among  the  Germans 
of  the  city,  although  extensively  patronized  by  the  public  irrespect- 
ive of  race. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  147 

TEUTONIA    BUILDING    AND   LOAN    ASSOCIATION. 

This  society,  which  has  its  offices  at  No.  119  West  Main 
street,  was  organized  on  March  22,  1893,  and  has  enjoyed  a  con- 
tinuously prosperous  growth  from  that  time  to  the  present.  The 
president  is  Paul  Richter;  vice-president,  Fred  M.  Geusenkamp; 
secretary,  Carl  J.  Weber;  treasurer,  William  Meyers. 

TRI-STATE   BUILDING   AND   LOAN   ASSOCIATION. 

This  institution,  which  is  incorporated,  has  had  a  career  of 
marked  success  and  is  today  doing  an  extensive  business,  its  influ- 
ence in  the  material  advancement  of  the  city  being  manifold  and 
far-reaching.  The  present  officers  of  the  association  are  as  follows : 
President,  D.  N.  Foster;  secretary,  C.  A.  Wilding;  treasurer,  Jo- 
seph W.  Bell ;  attorney,  W.  J.  Vesey. 

WAYNE  BUILDING  AND  LOAN  ASSOCIATION. 

This  popular  and  widely  patronized  organization  has  a  capital 
of  a  half  million  dollars  and  occupies  a  conspicuous  place  among 
kindred  associations  of  the  city.  Daniel  Keatz  is  president  and  J. 
F.  Bickle,  secretary. 


148  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 


CHAPTER  VII 


INDUSTRIES  OF  FORT  WAYNE. 


BY  GRAHAM  N.  BEERY. 


It  is  not  the  purpose  in  an  article  of  the  scope  and  limitations 
of  this  review  to  attempt  a  detailed  history  of  the  origin,  growth 
and  present  status  of  all  the  industrial  enterprises  of  Fort  Wayne, 
the  first  city  of  the  state  in  the  number  of  its  manufacturing  inter- 
ests, and  the  third  in  the  volume  of  production;  the  principal  object 
being  to  notice  at  some  length  several  of  the  more  important  es- 
tablishments, with  incidental  reference  to  those  of  secondary  rank. 
With  a  full  appreciation  of  the  difficulty  attending  an  effort  to  trace 
correctly  the  history  of  an  enterprise,  however  small  or  unimportant, 
the  writer  has  endeavored  only  in  a  general  way  to  note  the  various 
changes  that  have  occurred  in  the  growth  and  development  of  the 
several  representative  plants  noted  in  the  following  pages,  omitting 
as  much  as  possible  collateral  data,  and  relying  almost  entirely  upon 
basal  facts. 

From  its  situation  as  an  inland  city,  in  the  midst  of  a  country 
of  almost  unexhaustible  material  resources,  and  about  midway  be- 
tween the  populous  cities  of  the  East,  West  and  Northwest,  Fort 
Wayne,  when  but  a  mere  frontier  hamlet,  gave  promise  of  ultimately 
becoming  an  independent  trading  point,  besides  attracting  attention 
as  a  favorable  center  for  industrial  enterprise.  Time  has  fully 
demonstrated  the  correctness  of  the  views  entertained  by  public 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  149 

spirited  men  of  the  early  day,  to  the  effect  that  the  future  growth 
and  prosperity  of  the  place  would  depend,  to  an  unusual  degree,  upon 
a  location  which  presented  extraordinary  inducements  for  com- 
mercial expansion,  unrivaled  advantages  in  the  way  of  manufacture 
and  prospects  of  facilities  for  traffic  such  as  few  towns  in  the  West 
could  boast.  The  completion  of  the  great  avenues  of  travel  and 
traffic  between  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Pittsburg  and  other  great 
cities  of  the  east  and  the  numerous  populous  centers  of  the  West,  also 
the  splendid  railways  running  north  and  south,  have  tended  greatly 
to  the  upbuilding  of  Fort  Wayne,  by  affording  ample  shipping 
facilities,  the  influence  of  which  in  the  development  of  the  city's 
industrial  interests  has  been  of  inestimable  value.  By  means  of 
these  avenues  the  city  is  brought  into  direct  communication  with 
all  parts  of  the  United  States,  north,  south,  east  and  west,  thus 
making  the  markets  of  the  world  easily  accessible,  and  furnishing 
a  rapid  and  reasonable  transit  to  the  same,  the  result  being  the 
continuous  growth  of  industrial  enterprises  which  in  number,  magni- 
tude and  far-reaching  influence  has  made  Fort  Wayne  one  of  the 
leading  manufacturing  cities  of  the  west  and  given  it  wide  publicity 
in  this  country  and  abroad. 

The  history  of  the  city's  industries  dates  from  a  very  early  day. 
No  sooner  had  the  place  assumed  the  dignity  of  a  village  than 
various  artisans  began  to  arrive  and  ply  their  respective  trades,  and 
within  a  comparatively  brief  period  mills  were  erected  along  the 
different  water  courses,  shops  and  factories  were  built,  and  the  hum 
of  industry  marked  the  progress  of  country  and  town,  promising 
much  for  the  future  prosperity  of  both. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  follow  the  history  of  those  early  in- 
dustries were  all  the  data  accessible,  but  many  of  the  essential  facts 
pertaining  to  them  have  long  since  faded  from  the  memory  of  man, 
and  the  buildings,  disappearing  with  the  several  owners,  have  left 
only  here  and  there  a  few  faint  traces  to  mark  the  sites  they  occupied. 
Among  the  first  industries  was  the  manufacture  of  lumber,  as  dense 
forests  of  the  finest  timber  afforded  abundant  means  from  which  to 
draw,  and  the  streams  furnished  motive  power  for  the  mills  until 
the  introduction  of  steam  and  a  much  improved  grade  of  machinery 
rendered  primitive  methods  obsolete.    Flouring  mills  were  also  built 


150  THE    MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

in  an  early  day,  and  as  the  town  increased  in  population  and  gave 
promise  of  becoming  an  important  trading  and  distributing  point, 
other  lines  of  enterprise  were  established,  including  the  manufacture 
of  leather,  barrels,  cooperage  material,  fish  oil,  furniture,  wagons, 
various  kinds  of  iron  work,  hubs,  spokes,  wheels,  textile  fabrics, 
especially  woolen  goods,  and  many  other  interests,  some  of  which 
prospered,  while  others  ran  their  course  in  a  short  time  and  went 
out  of  existence. 

Marquis  &  Holcomb  were  among  the  first  tanners,  engaging  in 
the  business  as  early  as  1828  in  a  building  on  the  southeast  corner 
of  Columbia  and  Harrison  streets,  the  establishment  subsequently 
passing  through  different  hands,  and  continuing  until  late  in  the 
'40s,  Robinson  &  Page  being  the  last  proprietors.  Henry  Work  and 
Samuel  Hanna  erected  a  tannery  of  forty  vats  in  1843,  on  tne  north 
side  of  the  canal,  west  of  Barr  street,  which  was  afterwards  burned, 
and  replaced  by  a  brick  building  known  as  the  Phoenix  Tannery,  the 
latter  being  in  operation  until  vacated  in  the  year  1854. 

Madore  Truckey  came  to  the  town  in  1828,  and  engaged  in  the 
cooperage  business,  making  kegs  and  barrels  for  the  Indians,  and  do- 
ing a  fairly  prosperous  business  until  about  1834.  The  firm  of  Ball 
&  Johnson,  in  the  latter  year,  started  quite  a  flourishing  cooper  shop 
on  lot  No.  546  Hanna's  addition,  and  later  the  manufacture  of  va- 
rious kinds  of  cooperage  material,  such  as  staves,  heading  and  truss 
hoops,  enlisted  the  attention  of  a  number  of  enterprising  men. 

In  1839  Jacob  C.  Bowser  and  James  Story  established  a  foun- 
dry and  machine  shop  on  lot  No.  86  of  the  original  plat,  which  was 
operated  by  horse  power,  the  building,  a  substantial  frame  structure, 
being  forty  by  forty  feet,  and  well  equipped.  It  was  burned  in  1840, 
and  the  following  year  Messrs,  Bowser  &  Story  rebuilt  on  the  south 
side  of  Water  street,  lot  No.  17  original  plat,  subsequently  extending 
the  plant  over  lot  No.  18,  also  lot  No.  565,  Hanna's  addition.  The 
enterprise  was  conducted  quite  successfully,  being  enlarged  and 
greatly  improved  from  time  to  time,  the  firm  of  McLachlan  &  Olds 
becoming  proprietors  in  1876;  two  years  later  the  style  of  the  firm 
was  changed  to  C.  L.  Olds  &  Company,  by  which  it  continued  to  be 
known  for  a  number  of  years. 

A  planing  mill  was  established  in  1853  by  the  firm  of  Humphrey 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  151 

&  Hurd,  which  ran  several  years,  and  yielded  a  handsome  income  to 
the  proprietors.  Prior  to  the  above  date,  about  the  year  1841,  Wil- 
liam Robinson  erected  a  sash  factory,  which  was  operated  until  1873, 
passing  through  different  hands  the  meantime,  Fronfield  &  Todd 
being  the  last  owners. 

The  Fort  Wayne  Steel  Plow  Works  was  started  in  1852,  and 
while  in  operation  did  a  fair  business,  being  patronized  principally 
by  local  tradesmen.  The  manufacture  of  stoves  was  carried  on  for 
some  time  with  moderate  success,  as  were  various  other  kinds  of 
iron  works,  some  of  which  are  still  in  operation,  being  noticed  on 
other  pages  of  this  chapter. 

The  making  of  distilled  liquors  was  also  an  early  industry  of 
Fort  Wayne,  but  crude  methods  did  not  long  enable  the  proprietors 
to  compete  with  larger  establishments  elsewhere,  and  they  gradually 
went  out  of  business  and  allowed  their  buildings  to  fall  into  decay. 

A  successful  plumbing  and  brass  works  establishment  was 
started  in  1855  by  the  firm  of  Barker  &  Oakey,  the  enterprise  subse- 
quently passing  into  the  hands  of  Alfred  Hattersley,  who  conducted 
the  business  for  a  number  of  years  with  encouraging  financial  re- 
sults. Hamilton  &  Company  in  the  early  '70s  erected  what  was 
known  as  the  Spice  Mills,  on  the  west  side  of  Clinton  street,  which 
afforded  employment  for  a  number  of  men,  and  did  a  remunerative 
business  during  the  time  it  was  in  operation. 

Another  enterprise  which  grew  to  large  proportions  and  did 
much  to  spread  the  name  of  the  city  abroad  was  the  Western  Bridge 
Works,  established  in  1877  by  Olds  &  Wheelock,  for  the  manufac- 
turing of  iron  bridges  exclusively.  The  firm  selected  large  build- 
ings on  Water  and  Harrison  streets  and  the  canal,  which  were  fully 
equipped,  and  when  running  at  its  normal  capacity  about  seventy 
men  were  employed  at  the  plant,  besides  four  gangs  to  handle  and 
place  the  bridges  which  the  company  sold  and  shipped.  For  a  con- 
siderable period  the  firm  carried  on  a  thriving  business,  building 
bridges  under  their  own  letters  patent  and  disposing  of  them  through- 
out Indiana  and  other  states.  After  a  successful  career  of  a  number 
of  years,  the  manufacture  of  bridges  gradually  declined  and  the  es- 
tablishment was  merged  into  other  lines  of  enterprise. 


152  THE   MAUMEE    RIVER   BASIN. 

SAW  MILLS. 

The  country  adjacent  to  Fort  Wayne  being  heavily  timbered,  the 
manufacture  of  lumber  early  became  one  of  the  leading  industries 
of  the  town,  a  number  of  parties  engaging  in  the  saw  milling  busi- 
ness long  before  the  place  had  attained  to  the  dignity  of  a  city.  One 
of  the  first  lumber  mills  of  any  importance  was  established  in  1868 
by  J.  R.,  A.  E.  and  W.  H.  Hoffman,  and  stood  on  lot  No.  19,  Rock- 
hill's  addition.  It  was  enlarged  from  time  to  time  until  the  plant 
covered  the  square  from  Van  Buren  to  Jackson  street,  off  Main,  be- 
sides occupying  a  number  of  additional  lots  over  which  the  material 
extended.  This  was  a  band  saw  mill,  and  during  the  time  it  was  in 
operation  did  a  large  and  flourishing  business.  Krudop  &  Company 
built  a  fine  lumber  mill  in  Hanna's  addition,  on  the  north  side  of  the 
canal,  in  1862,  and  continued  the  business  for  a  time,  when  the  en- 
terprise passed  into  other  hands,  various  parties  owning  it  before  it 
ceased  operation.  The  size  of  the  mill  was  two  stories,  twenty-eight 
by  sixty  feet,  with  circular  saw  of  sixty  inches  diameter,  the  output 
averaging  four  thousand  feet  of  lumber  per  day. 

The  Baker  mill,  on  lot  No.  7,  county  addition,  was  perhaps  the 
first  steam  lumber  mill  in  the  town,  having  been  established  early  in 
the  '40s  by  John,  George  and  Jacob  Baker,  their  brother  Henry  be- 
coming a  member  of  the  firm  in  1848.  In  1850  the  mill  changed 
hands,  Jacob,  Kilian  and  Henry  continuing  the  business  until  1867, 
at  which  time  Henry  retired;  Kilian  Baker  became  sole  proprietor 
in  1878,  and  ran  the  business  with  marked  success  until  a  few  years 
ago,  when  he  disposed  of  the  property  to  other  parties,  by  whom  it 
is  still  operated. 

Among  other  saw-mills  that  have  been  in  operation  from  time  to 
time  were  the  Edsall  steam  mill,  built  in  1848,  in  Hanna's  addition, 
north  of  the  canal;  the  Olds  mill,  established  in  1879,  on  East 
Coombs  street  by  Henry  Olds,  and  the  Empire  mills,  erected  on  the 
south  side  of  the  canal  basin,  in  the  fall  of  1872,  by  J.  C.  Peters,  all 
of  which  were  well  patronized  and  yielded  handsome  incomes  to 
their  respective  proprietors.  Although  not  so  extensive  as  formerly, 
the  manufacture  of  lumber  is  still  classed  among  the  important  in- 
dustries of  Fort  Wayne,  the  following  firms  being  engaged  in  the 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  153 

business :  The  Hilker  Brothers,  who  operate  a  large  steam  mill  at 
the  intersection  of  Schick  and  Hanna  streets;  Smith  &  Randall, 
whose  plant,  near  Broadway,  on  the  Wabash  Railroad,  has  an  exten- 
sive and  lucrative  patronage,  and  the  Hoffman  Brothers,  who  do  a 
satisfactory  business  at  No.  800  West  Main  street. 

FLOUR    MILLS. 

In  every  new  settlement  one  of  the  first  and  most  important  con- 
siderations is  that  of  supplying  the  family  with  breadstuff,  to  which 
end  various  devices  and  expedients  have  been  resorted  to,  including 
the  tin  grater,  the  mortar  and  pestle,  the  handmill,  following  which 
was  the  primitive  pair  of  stone  buhrs  operated  by  horse  power,  and 
still  later  the  little  mill  constructed  near  a  spring  or  stream,  the  fall 
of  which  supplied  the  motive  power.  A  mill  site  in  pioneer  times 
was  considered  a  valuable  property,  and  fortunate  indeed  the  indi- 
vidual on  whose  land  was  found  sufficient  water  to  operate  the  sim- 
ple machinery  of  the  mill  upon  which  the  settlers  relied  for  their 
supply  of  meal,  and  which  above  all  other  improvements  in  the  com- 
munity was  most  highly  prized. 

The  first  grist  mill  was  built  as  early  as  1827,  by  James  Barnett 
and  Samuel  Hanna,  and  stood  on  the  west  bank  of  the  St.  Mary's 
river,  near  where  the  stream  is  crossed  by  the  Bluffton  road.  Later 
Louis  H.  Davis  purchased  the  mill,  and  he  in  turn  sold  it  to  Asa 
Fairfield  and  Samuel  C.  Freeman,  by  whom  it  was  operated  until 
A.  C.  Beaver  became  proprietor  a  few  years  afterward.  It  was  de- 
stroyed by  fire  in  1878,  the  last  owner  being  George  Esmond.  A 
company  was  afterward  organized  by  Mr.  Esmond  for  the  erection 
of  a  new  mill,  which  was  completed  in  due  time,  and  stood  on  the 
site  of  the  former  structure.  It  was  a  decided  improvement  on 
its  predecessor,  being  built  of  brick,  three  stories  high,  forty-four  by 
sixty  feet  in  area  and  equipped  with  three  turbine  wheels  and  five 
runs  of  buhrs,  capable  of  grinding  eighty  barrels  of  flour  per  day. 
This  mill  did  a  thriving  business  until  1888,  when  it  also  fell  a  prey 
to  the  flames,  and  was  never  rebuilt.  The  City  Mills,  erected  in 
1842-3,  by  Allen  Hamilton  and  Jesse  Williams,  stood  on  the  north 
bank  of  the  canal,  between  Clinton  and  Calhoun  streets,  and  did  a 


154  THE    MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

very  successful  business  as  long"  as  it  was  in  operation.  Owing  to  the 
water  supply  being  cut  off  by  the  New  York,  Chicago  &  St.  Louis 
Railroad,  it  was  afterward  converted  into  a  warehouse,  and  as  such 
was  used  for  a  number  of  years.  The  Woodlawn,  or  Wines  mill, 
was  long  one  of  the  best  known  of  Fort  Wayne's  flourishing  mills. 
It  was  erected  in  1838  by  Marshall  Wines,  at  a  dam  across  the  Mau- 
mee,  near  the  foot  of  Harrison  street,  and  a  short  distance  west  of 
the  canal  lock.  Hanna  &  Bird  subsequently  purchased  the  property, 
and  still  later  it  passed  through  the  hands  of  different  parties,  the 
last  proprietor  being  E.  A.  Orff,  during  whose  ownership  it  was  de- 
stroyed by  fire,  about  the  year  1879.  This  mill  cost  the  sum  of  six 
thousand  dollars,  and  during  its  most  prosperous  period  had  a  daily 
capacity  of  fifty  barrels  of  flour,  which  commanded  a  high  price  by 
reason  of  its  superior  quality.  The  Empire  or  Stone  Mill  was  one 
of  the  largest  flouring  mills  in  the  northern  part  of  the  state,  as  well 
as  one  of  the  most  successful.  It  was  begun  in  1843  by  Samuel  Ed- 
sall,  completed  in  1845,  and  when  operated  at  its  full  capacity  pro- 
duced two  hundred  barrels  per  day.  It  was  subsequently  remodeled 
and  supplied  with  improved  machinery,  and  continued  in  operation 
until  a  recent  date. 

One  of  the  oldest  mills  in  this  section  of  the  country  was  erected 
about  the  year  1830  by  Rudisill  &  Johns ;  it  stood  on  the  St.  Joseph 
river,  one  mile  north' of  Fort  Wayne,  received  its  motive  power  from 
that  stream,  and  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  mill  in  Allen  county  to 
manufacture  flour  for  the  general  trade.  Other  mills  were  built  from 
time  to  time,  the  most  successful  of  which  was  a  large,  three-story 
steam  mill,  erected  in  1857  by  the  firm  of  Comparet  &  Hubbell,  and 
destroyed  by  fire  about  four  years  later.  Another  mill  on  the  same 
site  was  built  in  the  year  1862  by  D.  F.  Comparet,  who  invested 
thirty-five  thousand  dollars  in  the  enterprise.  This  mill  passed 
through  various  hands  and  did  a  prosperous  business  until  1876, 
when,  like  its  predecessor,  the  building  was  wrecked  by  the  fire  fiend 
and  rendered  unfit  for  milling  purposes.  The  manufacture  of  flour 
continues  to  be  an  important  industry,  and  at  this  time  several  mills 
are  in  operation,  the  proprietors  being  among  the  enterprising  busi- 
ness men  of  the  city. 

The  Bloomingdale  Mills,  on  Wells  street,  is  a  finely  equipped  es- 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  155 

tablishment,  making*  a  high  grade  of  flour,  for  which  there  is  a  wide 
demand  from  both  the  local  and  general  markets. 

C.  Tresselt  &  Sons,  whose  mill  is  located  at  the  intersection  of 
Clinton  street  and  the  New  York,  Chicago  &  St.  Louis  Railroad,  do 
an  extensive  local  and  general  business,  shipping  to  the  leading  cities 
of  Indiana  and  neighboring  states,  the  fine  grade  of  their  brands  of 
flour  being  their  best  recommendation.  The  gentlemen  interested 
in  this  enterprise  are  experienced  mill  men,  and  as  a  firm  have  much 
more  than  a  local  reputation  in  business  circles. 

Among  the  several  mills  that  supply  the  markets  of  Fort  Wayne 
and  other  points  is  the  Mayflower  Mill,  located  at  Nos.  1 18-120 
West  Columbia  street,  which  is  operated  on  quite  an  extensive  scale 
and  doing  a  business  second  to  no  other  mill  of  the  same  capacity 
in  the  city.  The  popularity  of  its  several  brands  of  flour,  especially 
the  celebrated  "Silver  Dust,"  has  created  a  great  demand  among  the 
merchants  and  dealers  of  Fort  Wayne,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  any 
other  mill  in  the  northern  part  of  the  state  can  claim  a  larger  local 
trade. 

The  Volland  Milling  Company  operate  a  small,  but  very  finely 
equipped,  mill  on  Columbia  street,  and  manufacture  several  brands 
of  flour  which  in  point  of  excellence  are  equal  to  the  best  in  the  mar- 
ket, and  which  have  a  large  sale,  taxing  the  capacity  of  the  mill  to 
meet.  The  mill  is  supplied  with  machinery  for  the  manufacture  of 
flour  by  the  latest  improved  process,  and  the  production  is  mostly 
disposed  of  to  local  dealers. 

The  City  Mills,  one  of  the  largest  and  most  important  interests 
of  the  kind  in  Fort  Wayne,  is  situated  at  the  corner  of  Clinton  street 
and  the  New  York,  Chicago  &  St.  Louis  Railroad,  and  commands  a 
large  and  lucrative  patronage  in  the  home  markets  and  elsewhere, 
extensive  shipments  being  made  to  various  points  in  Indiana  and 
other  states.  The  latest  improvements  in  flour  making  have  been 
adopted  by  the  proprietors,  and  wherever  sold  the  output  has  easily 
held  its  own,  ranking  high  in  all  the  essential  qualities  of  first-class 
flour  and  losing  nothing  when  compared  with  the  fancy  grades  from 
the  leading  mills  of  the  country. 

Another  mill  that  has  earned  an  enviable  reputation  by  the  supe- 
rior excellence  of  its  make  of  flour  is  the  Globe  Mills,  at  No.  301 


156  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

East  Columbia  street,  which  is  operated  at  its  full  capacity  to  supply 
the  demands  of  the  market  for  its  output.  The  proprietors  are  among 
the  most  experienced  mill  men  of  the  city,  and  the  interest  they  mani- 
fest in  keeping  in  touch  with  the  latest  improvements  in  flour  mak- 
ing bespeaks  for  them  a  continuance  of  the  successful  business  which 
they  now  command. 

The  manufacture  of  several  brands  of  cereal  foods,  which  of  re- 
cent years  have  come  into  general  use  throughout  the  country,  is 
now  included  in  the  long  list  of  Fort  Wayne's  industrial  interests,  a 
large  establishment  for  the  making  of  this  popular  product  being  in 
operation  at  No.  2039  South  Fairfield  avenue,  under  the  name  of 
the  South  Side  Cereal  Mills.  The  success  of  the  enterprise  is  at- 
tested to  by  the  rapid  growth  of  the  business  and  the  high  reputation 
of  its  brand  of  goods  wherever  sold,  the  local  patronage  being  very 
satisfactory,  while  large  quantities  are  consigned  to  other  points. 
The  mill  is  ably  managed  by  men  of  wide  experience  in  this  line  of 
manufacture,  and  its  creditable  standing  in  industrial  and  commer- 
cial circles  is  sufficient  assurance  of  its  permanency  as  one  of  the 
city's  prosperous  business  enterprises. 

THE  BASS    FOUNDRY  AND   MACHINE   COMPANY. 

"In  taking  up  the  subject  of  the  greater  manufacturing  interests 
of  Fort  Wayne,"  says  a  local  writer,  "the  Bass  Foundry  and  Ma- 
chine Shops  naturally  suggest  themselves  because  of  their  over- 
whelming importance  to  the  city  and  her  interests."  These  words 
well  serve  as  an  index  to  an  enterprise  which,  under  the  direction 
and  masterly  leadership  of  a  captain  of  industry,  than  whom  this 
country  knows  no  greater,  has  grown  from  a  modest  beginning  into 
a  business  of  such  collossal  proportions  that  it  not  only  greatly  sur- 
passes any  other  enterprise  of  the  kind  on  the  American  continent, 
but  has  made  its  influence  felt  in  every  civilized  country  on  the 
globe,  the  name  being  familiar  wherever  railroads  have  been  con- 
structed and  in  marts  of  trade  where  the  highest  and  most  skillful 
results  of  inventive  genius  are  to  be  found.  To  quote  again  from 
the  author  of  the  introductory  sentence,  "While  it  is  not  as  old  an 
institution  as  some  of  its  compeers  in  the  Empire  State  and  New 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  157 

England,  it  wears  the  distinguished  honor  of  making  some  lines  of 
manufactured  products  which  in  quantity  and  quality  are  without 
successful  rivals  in  the  world,"  to  which  may  be  added  that  in  a  cer- 
tain important  sense  it  occupies  a  distinctly  unique  place  among  the 
great  industrial  enterprises  of  the  country,  in  that  ever  since  its 
origin,  over  a  half  century  ago,  it  has  been  under  the  splendid  man- 
agement of  the  same  presiding  genius  to  whom  its  phenomenal 
growth  and  series  of  continued  successes  are  due.  The  Bass  Foun- 
dry and  Machine  Company  more  than  any  other  industrial  estab- 
lishment has  added  to  the  growth  and  development  of  Fort  Wayne 
and  given  the  city  publicity,  in  view  of  which  it  has  become  an  ob- 
ject of  pride  to  our  citizens,  all  of  whom  have  felt  its  influence  and 
directly  or  indirectly  been  benefited  by  its  presence. 

The  history  of  this  great  enterprise  dates  from  the  year  1853, 
at  which  time  a  machine  shop  was  established  on  the  site  of  the 
present  plant  by  a  firm  known  as  Jones,  Bass  &  Company,  under 
whose  management  the  business  rapidly  advanced  until  within  a 
comparatively  brief  period  it  became  one  of  the  leading  institutions 
of  the  kind,  not  only  in  Fort  Wayne,  but  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
state.  With  several  changes  in  the  personnel  of  the  company,  it  ran 
as  a  private  concern  until  1873,  when  it  was  reorganized  and  incor- 
porated as  the  Bass  Foundry  and  Machine  A/Vorks,  with  John  H. 
Bass,  president;  John  I.  White,  secretary,  and  R.  J.  Fisher,  treasu- 
rer. With  a  largely  increased  capital  and  greater  facilities  in  the 
matter  of  equipment,  the  business  under  the  new  regime  was  given 
an  impetus  which  soon  placed  the  shops  among  the  foremost  of  the 
kind  in  the  country  and  earned  for  the  company  a  reputation  second 
to  that  of  no  other  in  the  land.  Under  the  efficient  management  of 
John  H.  Bass,  president  and  principal  owner,  it  rapidly  extended  its 
influence,  especially  in  railway  circles,  and  continued  to  grow  in 
magnitude  and  importance  until,  as  already  indicated,  its  chief  prod- 
uct, car  wheels,  became  widely  known  throughout  the  world,  being 
purchased  by  the  leading  roads  of  this  country  and  Europe,  besides 
large  shipments  made  to  the  Orient.  The  interim  from  1873  to 
1898,  which  witnessed  the  phenomenal  success  of  the  enterprise  and 
the  extension  of  its  business  to  the  leading  markets  of  the  world, 
was  also  characterized  by  changes  in  the  firm  from  time  to  time,  until 


158  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

it  was  finally  deemed  advisable  to  again  reorganize,  which  was  duly 
effected  the  latter  year  under  the  name  of  the  Bass  Foundry  and  Ma- 
chine Company,  which,  in  addition  to  the  Port  Wayne  plant,  in- 
cluded a  large  foundry  at  Lenoir,  Tennessee,  and  a  blast  furnace  for 
the  manufacture  of  pig  iron  at  Rock  Run,  Alabama.  As  already  in- 
dicated, the  plant  at  Fort  Wayne  makes  a  specialty  of  car  wheels,  of 
which  it  manufactures  a  greater  number  than  any  other  establish- 
ment in  the  United  States,  and  which  are  sold  to  all  the  leading  roads 
in  this  country,  Canada,  Mexico  and  Cuba,  besides  a  large  trade  in 
the  various  countries  of  Europe,  the  Philippine  Islands,  China  and 
Japan.  In  addition  to  car  wheels,  the  company  does  a  general  foun- 
dry and  machine  shop  business,  besides  making  all  kinds  of  castings 
for  railroads,  and  other  heavy  castings,  in  fact  all  grades  of  castings 
used  by  manufacturing  establishments  throughout  the  world,  large 
shipments  of  which  are  made  to  various  foreign  countries,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  colossal  proportions  to  which  the  local  trade  in  this 
product  has  grown. 

Not  the  least  important  of  the  several  lines  of  work  done  by  this 
great  establishment  is  the  manufacture  of  the  celebrated  Bass  Corliss 
engines,  which  are  famed  everywhere  for  their  remarkable  excel- 
lence in  points  of  material,  construction  and  wearing  capacity,  the 
demand  for  these  ponderous  machines  coming  from  nearly  every  civ- 
ilized country  on  the  globe.  A  fact  worthy  of  note  in  this  connec- 
tion is  that  the  Bass  works  is  the  only  establishment  in  the  world 
that  builds  the  Corliss  engine  "from  the  ground  up,"  the  company 
owning  and  operating  its  own  mines,  smelting  and  reducing  its  own 
ore,  and  manufacturing  ready  for  use  every  particle  of  iron  and 
other  metal  which  enters  into  the  construction  of  these  wonderful 
products  of  scientific  invention. 

Another  important  feature  of  the  plant  is  the  boiler  shop,  in 
which  all  kinds  of  boilers  are  made,  including  those  for  locomotives 
and  stationary  engines,  the  water  tube  and  tubular  types  and  others, 
in  addition  to  which  the  company  manufactures  all  grades  of  sheet 
iron,  besides  doing  an  extensive  business  in  the  forging  of  heavy 
work  for  other  establishments  and  the  making  of  heavy  machinery 
of  various  kinds,  the  forge  being  the  largest  in  the  country,  as  well 
as  the  most  complete. 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  159 

The  moulding  department,  in  which  there  is  nothing  lacking  in 
the  matter  of  equipment,  is  also  large,  and  manned  by  a  full  force  of 
skilled  workmen  under  the  direction  of  a  foreman  whose  efficiency 
and  skill  are  attested  to  by  a  period  of  service  greater  perhaps  than 
that  of  any  other  official  of  the  kind  in  the  United  States,  having 
been  with  the  company  continually  for  over  fifty  years.  Indeed,  the 
employees  in  every  department  have  been  selected  with  special  ref- 
erence to  their  ability  and  faithfulness  to  the  company's  interests, 
many  of  them  having  spent  the  greater  part  of  a  lifetime  in  the  serv- 
ice of  the  firm.  The  relations  between  proprietors  and  employees 
have  always  been  characterized  by  a  reciprocity  of  interests,  nothing 
being  permitted  to  interfere  with  the  spirit  of  amity  and  good  will 
which  from  the  beginning  has  obtained  in  the  establishment.  Since 
the  origin  of  the  business,  over  fifty  years  ago,  the  Bass  Company 
has  disbursed  to  its  employees  many  millions  of  dollars,  which  vast 
revenue  has  furnished  a  prosperous  livelihood  to  hundreds  of  trades- 
men, besides  being  of  untold  benefit  in  advancing  the  material  wel- 
fare of  the  city.  Mr.  Bass  has  always  paid  the  highest  wages  com- 
patible with  the  interests  of  his  business,  and  during  the  many  years 
that  his  works  have  been  in  operation  hundreds  of  his  employees  have 
been  enabted  to  purchase  and  improve  their  own  homes,  to  live  in  hap- 
piness and  content  and  to  fill  respected  and  honorable  places  in  the 
community.  Some  idea  of  the  magnitude  of  the  enterprise  may  be 
obtained  from  the  fact  that  the  plant  in  Fort  Wayne  alone,  which 
covers  an  area  of  over  twenty  acres,  requires  the  labor  of  seventeen 
hundred  men,  at  a  monthly  pay-roll  of  nearly  eighty  thousand  dol- 
lars, while  the  amount  of  business  done  every  year  amounts  to  the 
enormous  sum  of  three  million  dollars. 

In  order  to  supply  the  large  and  constantly  growing  demand  for 
their  various  products,  the  company  some  years  ago  established 
branch  plants  in  Chicago,  St.  Louis  and  other  points,  the  business  of 
which  added  to  that  of  the  parent  establishment  represents  the  sum 
of  five  million  dollars  annually,  this  sum  being  largely  in  excess  of 
that  of  any  other  company  in  the  United  States  engaged  in  the  same 
lines  of  manufacture.  Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  area 
of  the  main  plant  in  Fort  Wayne ;  suffice  it  to  state  that  the  buildings 
of  the  same  are  substantially  constructed  of  brick  and  iron  and  thor- 


160  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

oughly  equipped  with  the  latest  improved  machinery  and  devices, 
nearly  all  of  which  are  made  in  the  company's  works  by  skillful  me- 
chanics employed  for  this  especial  purpose.   The  company  owns  large 
tracts  of  valuable  mineral  land,  twenty-one  thousand  acres  of  which 
are  in  the  richest  ore-producing  region  of  Alabama,  this  being  pro- 
nounced by  experts  to  be  among  the  finest  iron  land  in  the  world.    In 
addition  to  iron,  which  abounds  in  seemingly  inexhaustible  quanti- 
ties, and  of  the  finest  quality,  this  tract  is  remarkably  rich  in  various 
other  minerals,  notably  among  which  are  unusually  valuable  depos- 
its of  high-grade  boxite,  which  is  shipped  principally  to  Philadelphia, 
where  it  commands  a  price  considerably  in  excess  of  the  finest  grades 
imported  from  France  and  other  European  countries.  The  iron  from 
the  Alabama  lands  is  smelted  at  the  town  of  Rock  Run,  where  the 
company  owns  and  operates  a  large  blast  furnace,  which  with  the 
mining  of  the  ore  has  become  the  leading  industry  in  that  part  of  the 
state,  giving  employment  to  a  large  number  of  men  and  adding 
greatly  to  the  wealth  and  prosperity  of  the  town  and  surrounding 
country.     The  Bass  Foundry  and  Machine  Company  is  officered  at 
this  time  as  follows:    John  H.  Bass,  president;  C.  T.  Strawbridge, 
vice-president  and  secretary;  F.  S.  Lightfoot,  treasurer;  the  first- 
named  owning  the  majority  of  the  stock  and  being  the  directing  and 
controlling  spirit  of  the  enterprise. 

THE   WESTERN    GAS    CONSTRUCTION    COMPANY. 

This  colossal  enterprise,  although  of  comparatively  recent  origin, 
is  admittedly  the  largest  and  most  successful  of  the  kind  not  only  in 
the  United  States,  but  in  the  world;  had  added  much  to  Fort 
Wayne's  reputation  as  an  important  manufacturing  point,  and,  with 
an  influence  in  the  industrial  world  such  as  few  establishments  exert, 
its  presence  is  a  source  of  pride  to  the  city,  besides  affording  remu- 
nerative employment  to  a  small  army  of  workmen  who  depend  for 
their  livelihood  upon  the  different  merchants  and  tradesmen,  thus 
contributing  to  the  benefit  of  all  classes  and  bearing  its  full  share  in 
the  material  development  of  the  community. 

The  history  of  the  Western  Gas  Construction  Company  begins 
with  the  year  1888,  at  which  time  O.  N.  Guldlin,  a  mechanical  engi- 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  161 

neer  of  ripe  experience,  especially  skilled  as  an  inventor  and  manu- 
facturer of  apparatus  for  the  storage  and  handling  of  artificial  il- 
luminating gas,  perceiving  what  he  considered  a  favorable  opening 
for  an  engineering  firm  in  the  West,  took  advantage  of  the  same  by 
forming  a  partnership  at  Fort  Wayne  with  F.  D.  Moses  and  W.  A. 
Croxton,  Mr.  Guldlin  being  elected  engineer  and  manager  of  the 
enterprise,  and  the  other  two  superintendent  and  secretary,  respect- 
ively. 

Opening  a  modest  office  of  a  single  room,  the  new  firm  at  once 
began  perfecting  plans  for  future  action,  and  it  was  not  long  until  a 
goodly  amount  of  business  was  secured,  the  work  of  manufacture 
being  done  by  various  shops  and  foundries  in  the  city.  Notwith- 
standing the  favorable  auspices  under  which  the  enterprise  was  in- 
augurated and  the  constantly  increasing  volume  of  business,  Mr. 
Moses  soon  withdrew,  and  subsequently,  in  1890,  Mr.  Croxton  also 
severed  his  connection  with  the  firm,  although  the  demand  for  ap- 
paratus had  become  so  great  by  that  time  as  to  justify  more  commo- 
dious offices  and  call  for  increased  facilities  of  manufacture. 

Immediately  after  the  dissolution  of  the  original  firm  a  new 
company  was  organized  and  incorporated,  with  Mr.  Guldlin  as  the 
principal  owner  and  president,  which  position  he  has  since  retained, 
and  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  which  he  has  displayed  not  only 
a  high  order  of  executive  ability,  but  a  critical  knowledge  of  the  busi- 
ness demonstrating  thorough  mastery  of  the  craft. 

From  a  voluminous  historical  and  descriptive  circular  recently 
issued  by  the  company,  in  which  is  carefully  traced  the  career  of  the 
enterprise  from  its  inception  to  the  present  time,  the  compiler  of  this 
article  assumes  the  privilege  of  quoting  quite  liberally,  said  pamphlet 
containing  data  more  complete  and  reliable  perhaps  than  could  be 
obtained  from  any  other  source.  Following  the  organization  of  the 
new  firm,  a  vigorous  policy  of  introducing  originality  in  design  of 
gas  apparatus  resulted  in  a  steadily  growing  business,  and 
on  the  expiration  of  the  Lowe  patent  on  water  gas  ap- 
paratus in  1892,  the  company,  which  had  previously  given  con- 
siderable attention  to  this  process,  entered  into  the  market  with  its 
design  and  several  contracts  were  secured.  This  branch  of  the  busi- 
ness was  then  vigorously  pushed,  and  has  ever  since  been  given  spe- 
ll 


162  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

cial  attention,  a  number  of  patents  being  applied  for  and  allowed, 
covering  the  development  of  the  apparatus,  and  which  development 
has  continued,  but  with  additional  patents  still  pending,  as  repre- 
sented in  the  perfected  type  of  water  gas  apparatus  now  built  by  the 
company,  and  in  operation  in  some  of  the  largest  gas  companies  in 
the  country.  The  special  design  of  double  gate  valves  for  gas  works 
was  designed  and  patented  during  the  earlier  years,  and  by  their 
popularity  materially  increased  the  company's  business. 

By  1893  it  was  clearly  demonstrated  that  the  volume  of  business 
was  greatly  in  excess  of  what  could  be  systematically  handled,  being 
entirely  dependent  on  outside  shops  for  the  execution  of  the  work; 
accordingly,  in  that  year  about  twenty-eight  lots  adjoining  the  tracks 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  were  purchased  and  the  original  ma- 
chine shop  erected,  this  being  a  substantial  brick  building,  sixty-five 
by  one  hundred  feet  ground  space,  and  well  adapted  to  the  object 
for  which  designed;  a  commodious  office  building  adjoining  the 
shops  was  also  erected  ,  which  at  the  time  of  completion  was  thought 
to  meet  all  the  requirements  of  the  clerical  department.  The  contin- 
ued increase  in  the  volume  of  the  business  was  so  great,  however, 
that  the  capacity  of  the  plant  was  soon  overtaxed,  rendering  impera- 
tive still  larger  and  better  equipped  quarters,  to  meet  which  demand 
the  machine  shop  in  1895  was  extended  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet, 
which,  with  a  complete  installment  of  modern  and  special  tools,  was 
thought  to  afford  not  only  the  required  relief,  but  sufficient  working 
space  for  many  years  to  come. 

Here  again  the  calculations  were  in  due  time  found  to  be  in  error, 
for  the  business  continued  to  grow,  notwithstanding  the  panic,  and 
experiencing  more  and  more  difficulty  in  securing  satisfactory  foun- 
dry work  as  well  as  shell  work,  not  only  as  to  quality,  but  also  deliv- 
eries, it  was  finally  decided  to  establish  both  foundry  and  boiler 
shop;  accordingly,  in  1900  about  one-third  of  the  present  shops  were 
built,  each  having  a  capacity  of  from  one  to  three  times  the  com- 
pany's demands  up  to  that  time,  the  management  feeling  justified 
in  assuming  that  the  needs  of  the  enterprise  had  thus  been  properly 
looked  after  for  several  years  ahead. 

That  the  growth  of  the  business  was  much  underestimated  was 
quickly  demonstrated  as  to  the  boiler  shop  and  foundry,  by  the  ener- 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  163 

getic  adaptation  and  introduction  of  new  designs  of  gas  apparatus, 
such  as  having  taken  up  vigorously  the  introduction  of  an  improved 
P.  and  A.  tar  extractor,  with  the  earlier  introduction  of  which  Mr. 
Guldlin  had  been  identified  in  1882,  when  employed  as  engineer  with 
another  company.  The  popularity  and  resultant  large  orders  of 
"Western  Gas"  design  of  valves,  the  introduction  of  the  duplex  puri- 
fier system,  improved  form  of  washers,  both  for  coal  gas  and  water 
gas,  since  further  developed  and  patented,  and  further  improve- 
ments in  its  water  gas  apparatus,  as  well  as  the  introduction  of  the 
company's  system  of  coal  gas  condensation  with  intermediate  tar  ex- 
traction, on  which  patent  was  granted,  as  well  as  the  introduction 
in  this  country  of  the  Holmes  Patent  Rotary  Scrubber,  which  has 
already  established  such  an  unprecedented  record  abroad,  resulted  in 
such  a  volume  of  business  that  in  1902  it  was  clearly  demonstrated 
that  unless  radical  measures  were  taken  for  works  of  ample  capacity 
it  would  be  a  question,  and  a  very  serious  one,  of  not  being  able  to 
fill  orders  as  offered.  It  was  then  decided  to  act  accordingly,  disre- 
garding all  previous  consideration,  and  plans  were  immediately  pre- 
pared for  such  radical  extension  and  rebuilding  of  its  works  as  is 
represented  by  the  same  as  they  stand  today. 

Disregarding  all  ideas  of  conservatism,  the  company  planned  for 
still  greater  enlargement,  purchasing  additional  grounds  from  time 
to  time,  until  considerably  in  excess  of  twelve  acres  had  been  secured, 
the  plant  being  gradually  extended  over  the  extra  territory  until  it 
was  all  occupied.  The  equipment  of  machinery  in  all  the  depart- 
ments was  replaced  with  electrical  devices  for  driving  the  tools,  com- 
plete heating  and  ventilating  systems  of  the  most  approved  types 
were  introduced  throughout  the  different  buildings,  the  pattern  and 
pattern  storage  departments,  also  the  cleaning  shop  for  castings,  were 
separated  from  the  foundry  and  taken  care  of  in  an  independent 
srncious  brick  building  of  beautiful  design  and  substantial  construc- 
tion. The  forge  was  also  made  into  a  separate  department,  a  large 
building  being  erected  for  the  purpose,  while  the  foundry  was  trebled 
in  capacity.  The  original  machine  shop  being  entirely  remodeled, 
formed  the  central  part  of  the  new  gallery  design  of  modern  ma- 
chine shop,  equipped  with  double-decked  electric  traveling  cranes, 
but  in  1895  this  department  was  also  reconstructed,  making  it  one  of 


1 64  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

the  finest  and  most  thoroughly  equipped  shops  of  the  kind  in  the 
country.  In  keeping  with  the  several  changes  and  improvements 
noted  was  the  enlargement  and  refurnishing  of  the  office  building, 
which  had  also  proven  inadequate  to  the  demands  of  the  business, 
which,  as  already  indicated,  continued  to  grow  in  volume  until  more 
commodious  quarters,  as  well  as  a  greatly  increased  clerical  force, 
became  necessary.  As  reconstructed  the  office  is  certainly  a  model 
of  convenience  and  elegance,  consisting  of  a  reception  room,  main 
office  and  accounting  department,  purchasing  and  shipping  depart- 
ment, shop  order  and  correspondence  departments,  engineer's  room, 
a  large  room  for  draughting  work  and  the  president's  private  office, 
all  finely  finished  and  superbly  furnished  regardless  of  expense, 
neither  money  nor  pains  having  been  spared  to  make  this  feature  of 
the  establishment  complete  in  its  every  detail,  and  attractive  to  the 
eye  as  well. 

During  the  period  of  reconstruction  the  business  of  the  company 
continued  to  grow  and  expand,  the  plant  being  taxed  to  its  utmost 
limit  with  a  number  of  very  urgent  orders,  including  some  of  the 
largest  contracts  it  had  ever  undertaken,  but  suffice  it  to  state  that 
regardless  of  the  extra  work  required  by  the  improvement,  all  de- 
mands were  met  and  the  plant  finally  brought  into  proper  working 
condition  with  a  full  complement  of  employes  numbering  about  four 
hundred,  exclusive  of  the  large  force  engaged  in  installing  plants  in 
different  parts  of  the  country. 

During  the  year  1903  was  experienced  considerable  difficulty  in 
obtaining  satisfactory  quotations  and  deliveries  on  gas  holders, 
which  certain  customers  requested  should  be  included  in  their  con- 
tracts. Up  to  the  time  indicated  the  company  had  maintained  pleas- 
ant relations  with  the  several  firms  making  this  branch  of  the  busi- 
ness a  specialty,  but  being  convinced  that  the  trouble  would  increase 
rather  than  diminish,  the  question  of  adding  a  holder  department  to 
the  plant  received  very  serious  consideration,  the  consensus  of  opin- 
ion being  decidedly  in  favor  of  making  the  improvement.  Favorable 
action  was  taken  in  the  spring  of  1904,  at  which  time  the  necessary 
work  was  begun,  including  the  installation  of  a  complete  modern 
equipment  of  special  tools  for  the  construction  of  gas  holders  and 
steel  tanks  up  to  one  million  capacity,  in  addition  to  the  previous 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  165 

complete  equipment  for  general  steel  and  wrought  iron  work.  There 
was  also  a  separate  wood-working  department  added  for  the  pur- 
pose of  providing  for  the  rapid  growing  business  in  the  manufacture 
of  Faben's  patent  trays  for  purifiers,  which  had  become  quite  popu- 
lar, as  had  other  patents  by  the  same  party,  among  them  being  an 
ammoniacal  liquor  and  tar  displacement  apparatus  for  hydraulic 
mains  as  manufactured  by  the  company. 

Following  this  enlargement  of  the  plants,  facilities  for  a  number 
of  detail  improvements  in  gas  works  construction  were  added  to  the 
list  of  production,  to  the  rapid  extension  of  the  business,  and  as  a  re- 
sult of  two  European  trips  by  the  president,  during  which  he  made 
close  and  critical  investigations  of  the  methods  and  designs  of  a 
number  of  plants  in  the  different  countries  visited,  business  relations 
were  established  with  the  Manoschek  firm,  of  Vienna,  Austria,  and 
the  W.  C.  Holmes  &  Company,  of  Huddersfield,  England,  the  prin- 
cipal object  being  the  exchange  of  designs.  In  bringing  about  the 
relations  indicated,  as  well  as  other  important  results,  Mr.  Guldlin 
was  materially  assisted  by  the  co-labors  of  A.  B.  Slater,  M.  E.,  who 
is  now  in  full  charge  of  the  engineering  work  of  the  company,  and 
who  for  a  number  of  years  previous  had  been  the  president's  confi- 
dential consulting  engineer,  his  special  qualifications  being  attested 
to  by  his  membership  in  all  the  gas  associations  of  national  charac- 
ter in  this  country  and  abroad. 

It  is  proper,  in  this  connection,  to  state  that  the  hearty  co-opera- 
tion received  from  practically  all  of  its  customers  has  materially 
aided  the  company  in  continuing  the  policy  of  improvements  and 
raising  the  production  to  its  present  high  standard  of  excellence. 
Suggestions  coming  from  such  sources  have  been  carefully  consid- 
ered by  the  engineers,  and  if  deemed  of  value  have  been  promptly 
followed  up  and  acted  upon,  this,  in  connection  with  the  established 
policy  of  following  up  all  its  contracts  or  apparatus  sold  to  reach  and 
maintain  the  highest  possible  efficiency,  proving  a  source  of  gratifi- 
cation to  the  numerous  patrons  who  by  placing  their  work  in  the 
company's  hands,  gradually  learned  that  they  were  not  only  buying  a 
high-grade  apparatus,  but  were  also  securing  the  continued  advice 
and  co-operation  of  skillful  engineers  in  its  operation. 

In  the  preceding  paragraphs  reference  is  frequently  made  to  pat- 
ents, but  it  is  proper  to  state  that  it  has  never  been  the  policy  of  the 


1 66  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

company  to  sell  or  dispose  of  its  apparatus  on  the  basis  of  patent 
rights.  With  its  extended  manufacturing  facilities,  all  of  its  pro- 
duction is  disposed  of  on  a  manufacturing  basis,  the  object  of  pat- 
enting improvements  being  simply  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  its 
own  designs  against  unfair  competition  of  such  parties  as  have  in 
no  way  contributed  to  the  development  of  the  apparatus,  or  who  too 
often  have  been  willing  to  copy  the  results  after  the  company's  ex- 
tensive and  expensive  experiments  had  terminated  successfully. 

As  indicated  in  a  preceding  paragraph,  the  Western  Gas  Con- 
struction Company  is  unquestionably  the  largest  enterprise  in  the 
country  devoted  exclusively  to  the  manufacture  of  gas  apparatus, 
and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  remarkable  progress  attend- 
ing its  growth  has  more  than  realized  the  expectations  of  its  pro- 
moters, besides  being  a  source  of  wonder  and  pride  to  the  public. 
The  production,  which  includes  an  extensive  list,  consists  of  the 
latest  and  most  approved  apparatus  for  the  manufacture,  storage  and 
successful  handling  of  coal  and  water  gas,  many  of  the  improve- 
ments, as  already  noted,  being  of  the  company's  own  designs  and 
covered  by  letters  patent,  the  superior  merit  of  the  various  devices 
being  demonstrated  wherever  used,  besides  receiving  the  highest 
awards  conferred  since  the  manufacture  of  illuminating  gas  gained 
recognition  as  one  of  the  world's  great  industries.  For  this  recognition 
due  credit  must  be  accorded  the  president  of  the  Western  Gas  Con- 
struction Company,  as  it  was  mainly  through  his  influence  that  a 
concentrated  effort  to  secure  approval  of  a  modification,  or  addition 
to  the  official  classification  of  the  Louisiana  Exposition,  that  would 
permit  a  separation  of  the  different  branches  of  the  industry  for 
awards. 

The  company's  splendid  exhibit  at  St.  Louis,  embracing  every 
apparatus,  device  and  improvement  in  its  list  of  production,  was  a 
revelation  to  industrial  circles,  demonstrating  for  the  first  time  the 
magnitude  to  which  the  gas  industry  had  grown  and  permanently 
establishing  its  importance  as  one  of  the  greatest  enterprises  in  the 
domain  of  manufacture.  The  jury  of  awards  for  the  department  of 
manufactures,  which  included  the  various  gas  exhibits,  was  com- 
posed of  eminent  specialists  of  international  repute,  and  to  the  judg- 
ment of  such  a  distinguished  body  the  Western  Gas  Construction 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  167 

Company  was  content  to  rest  its  case,  satisfied  that  ample  justice 
would  be  rendered  in  the  matter  of  awards.  The  victory  of  the 
company  over  all  competition  was  so  complete  that  it  is  deemed 
proper  in  this  connection  to  give  the  reader  some  idea  of  the  same, 
by  the  following  splendid  showing: 

Awards  under  general  official  classification :  Grand  prize — su- 
perior and  complete  exhibit  of  methods  and  apparatus  for  the  manu- 
facture of  coal  gas,  water  gas  and  the  recovery  of  by-products; 
grand  prize — superior  valves  and  fittings  for  gas  works;  gold  med- 
al— tar  extractors,  ammonia  washers,  ammonia  stills  and  concen- 
trators; grand  prize — colaborator,  O.  N.  Guldlin,  M.  E.,  president 
The  Western  Gas  Construction  Company ;  gold  medal — colaborator, 
Percy  F.  Holmes,  Huddersfield,  England  (Holmes  Patent  Rotary 
Scrubber);  silver  medal — colaborator,  A.  B.  Slater,  M.  E.,  engineer 
The  Western  Gas  Construction  Company;  silver  medal — colabo- 
rator, C.  R.  Faben,  Jr.  (Faben  patent  purifying  trays,  Faben  patent 
tar  and  ammonia  displacement  apparatus  for  hydraulic  mains.)  Ad- 
ditional awards  under  special  divided  classification  recommended 
by  group  jury  and  adopted  :  Gold  medal — Coal  gas  condensers,  con- 
densing system  and  tar  extractors,  washers  and  rotary  scrubbers  for 
coal  gas ;  gold  medal — charging  floor  and  platform  design  of  double 
superheater  water  gas  apparatus  with  mechanical  and  hydraulic  op- 
erating appliances,  tar  extractors,  washers;  gold  medal — purifying 
system  and  apparatus  for  coal  gas  and  water  gas;  silver  medal — 
bench  mountings  and  binder  construction  for  retort  benches,  retort 
operating  tools ;  silver  medal — multiple  gauge  boards  and  gauges  for 
gas  works.  Awards  for  auxiliary  exhibits :  Gold  medal — P.  H.  & 
F.  M.  Roots  Company,  Cbnnersville,  Indiana,  gas  exhausters;  gold 
medal — General  Gas  Light  Company,  Kalamazoo,  Michigan,  gas  arc 
lamps ;  bronze  medal — Davis  &  Roesch,  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  auto- 
matic temperature  regulators  for  condensers  and  ammonia  stills. 

The  plant  of  this  colossal  enterprise,  with  its  massive  shops  and 
extensive  yards,  covering  over  twelve  acres  of  ground,  affords  em- 
ployment to  three  hundred  and  fifty  men  in  the  various  departments, 
not  including  the  large  clerical  force,  while  from  two  hundred  to 
two  hundred  and  fifty  are  required  to  install  the  apparatus  which  is 
constantly  being  shipped  to  all  parts  of  the  United  States  and  Can- 


i68  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER   BASIN. 

ada,  these  countries  affording  the  principal  market,  although  con- 
siderable business  is  done  in  Europe,  in  addition  to  which  the  com- 
pany is  also  in  receipt  of  orders  from  South  America.  It  has  repre- 
sentatives in  New  York,  San  Francisco  and  many  other  large  cities 
of  the  union,  also  in  various  parts  of  Canada,  England,  Germany, 
Austria  and  other  European  countries,  throughout  all  of  which  the 
enterprise  has  been  given  publicity,  with  the  result  that  a  large  ex- 
port trade  is  being  gradually  built  up.  The  success  of  the  company 
during  the  past  decade  and  a  half  has  bordered  upon  the  phenomenal 
and  the  continued  rapid  increase  in  the  volume  of  the  business,  to- 
gether with  its  constant  growth  in  public  favor,  bespeak  a  still  fur- 
ther enlargement  of  the  plant  and  its  facilities  at  no  distant  day. 

The  officers  of  the  company  at  this  time  are  as  follows :  Presi- 
dent and  general  manager,  O.  N.  Guldlin;  vice-president,  S.  M.  Fos- 
ter ;  secretary,  Charles  McCulloch ;  treasurer,  J.  Ross  McCulloch ;  as- 
sistant treasurer,  Clarence  S.  Swann. 

KERR  MURRAY  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY. 

Among  the  greater  enterprises  of  Fort  Wayne  that  have  contrib- 
uted to  the  solidity  of  the  city  and  added  to  its  reputation  as  one  of 
the  important  industrial  centers  of  the  west,  is  the  Kerr  Murray 
Manufacturing  Company,  the  record  of  which,  covering  a  period  of 
over  half  a  century,  presents  a  series  of  continued  successes,  and  the 
character  of  whose  product  has  won  for  it  distinctive  prestige  in  the 
domain  of  manufacture.  Briefly  outlined,  the  origin,  growth  and 
present  status  of  this  large  and  influential  interest  is  as  follows :  At- 
tracted by  the  advantages  of  Fort  Wayne  as  a  favorable  field  in 
which  to  engage  in  his  specific  lines  of  industry,  Mr.  Kerr  Murray, 
foundryman  and  machinist  of  Scotland,  came  to  the  city  in  1854, 
and,  in  partnership  with  Hugh  Beninger,  established  what  was 
known  as  the  Kerr  Murray  Foundry  and  Machine  Works,  erecting 
a  building  south  of  the  Wabash  Railroad,  on  the  site  of  the  present 
plant,  and  equipped  the  same  with  the  necessary  machinery  and  ap- 
pliances. Although  inaugurated  in  a  modest  way,  the  business 
proved  successful  from  the  beginning,  and  continued  to  grow  and 
expand  until  the  patronage  took  a  wider  range  and  gained  for  the 
establishment  much  more  than  local  repute.     1 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  169 

After  several  years,  Mr.  Beninger  disposed  of  his  interest  to 
Henry  Baker,  who  was  identified  with  the  business  until  his  death, 
about  the  year  1868,  at  which  time  Mr.  Murray  purchased  the  entire 
interest  and  became  sole  owner,  the  original  name,  however,  having 
been  retained  from  the  organization.  The  enterprise,  which  stead- 
ily grew  in  magnitude  and  importance,  at  first  consisted  of  general 
foundry  and  machine  shop  work,  with  steam  engines  and  boilers  as 
specialties,  in  addition  to  which  the  firm  also  did  a  thriving  business 
in  the  manufacture  of  various  kinds  of  tools,  making  all  that  were 
used  by  their  own  artisans,  besides  disposing  of  considerable  num- 
bers to  the  general  trade. 

The  adoption  of  artificial  gas  for  illuminating  purposes  by  many 
of  the  leading  cities  of  the  country  early  led  to  a  wide  demand  for 
apparatus  for  the  storage,  distribution  and  general  handling  of  the 
same;  accordingly,  some  time  in  the  early  '60s  the  Kerr  Murray 
Company  turned  their  attention  to  this  line  of  manufacture,  the  suc- 
cess of  which  from  the  beginning  more  than  met  their  highest  expec- 
tations. With  the  rapidly  growing  demand  for  these  apparatuses, 
the  company  gradually  discontinued  its  machinery  tool  department 
and  the  manufacture  of  boilers,  but  not  altogether,  however,  until 
they  had  made  and  installed  in  the  grain  elevators  of  Toledo  and 
several  other  cities  a  number  of  the  largest  boilers  produced  in  the 
country  at  that  time. 

In  the  year  1880  Mr.  Murray  died  and  his  son-in-law,  A.  D. 
Cressler,  succeeded  to  the  business,  and  has  since  continued  its  execu- 
tive head.  The  year  following  the  Kerr  Murray  Manufacturing 
Company  was  incorporated,  with  a  paid-up  capital  of  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  nearly  all  of  the  stock  owned  by  Mr.  Cressler  and 
family,  as  well  as  the  management  of  the  business  being  entirely  in 
his  and  his  sons'  hands.  The  steady  growth  and  wide  extension  of 
the  business  after  the  adoption  of  the  line  of  manufacture  to  which 
the  company  now  devotes  its  entire  attention,  soon  made  imperative 
larger  and  better  equipped  quarters;  accordingly,  in  1881,  a  three- 
story  brick  structure,  sixty  by  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  dimensions, 
was  erected,  the  first  floor  being  used  as  a  machine  shop,  with  full 
equipment  of  the  newest  and  most  approved  types  of  tools  and  other 
devices,  the  second  story,  a  pattern  department,  where  was  made 


170  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

everything*  in  this  line  required  in  the  business,  while  the  third  floor, 
also  ample  and  commodious,  was  used  for  the  storage  of  patterns, 
the  entire  edifice  being  complete  in  all  its  parts  and  well  adapted  to 
the  various  uses  for  which  designed.  With  the  completion  of  this 
building  the  original  shops  were  added  to  the  foundry,  more  than 
doubling  its  capacity,  but  despite  this  enlargement  the  continued  de- 
mands on  the  company  were  so  great  that  within  a  comparatively 
brief  period  it  was  found  necessary  to  construct  a  new  foundry  of 
increased  facilities,  which  improvement  was  begun  and  finished  in 
the  year  1885.  When  completed  this  feature  of  the  establishment 
was  found  equal  to  the  demands  of  the  foundry  department,  but 
later  an  addition  was  made  which  greatly  increased  its  capacity  and 
left  nothing  to  be  desired  in  the  matters  of  room  and  equipment,  be- 
ing one  hundred  and  ten  by  one  hundred  and  fifteen  feet  in  area,  with 
cupola  of  twenty-five  tons  daily  capacity.  Subsequently,  about  the 
year  1888,  a  new  boiler  and  plate  shop  was  erected,  two  stories  high, 
one  hundred  and  sixty-five  by  two  hundred  feet  ground  space,  with 
increased  facilities  for  the  handling  of  all  kinds  of  heavy  wrought 
iron  work,  this  proving  one  of  the  most  valuable  additions  to  the 
plant. 

Unlike  the  majority  of  large  manufacturing  enterprises,  the  Kerr 
Murray  Company  has  been  singularly  exempt  from  disaster  and 
loss,  notwithstanding  which  a  misfortune  of  no  small  moment  oc- 
curred when  the  three-story  machine  and  pattern  building  wras  de- 
stroyed by  fire,  in  March,  1901.  With  the  characteristic  energy  and 
determination  by  which  they  have  even  been  animated,  however,  the 
proprietors  at  once  proceeded  to  rebuild,  but  upon  entirely  different 
lines,  the  plans  being  for  a  one-story  instead  of  a  three-story  struc- 
ture, with  enlarged  facilities,  well  lighted  and  ventilated,  and  with 
no  feature  of  a  complete  and  thoroughly  furnished  establishment 
omitted.  The  new  building  was  finished  in  due  time,  and,  meeting 
every  requirement  of  a  business  enterprise  of  colossal  proportions,  it 
stands  an  eloquent  reminder  of  the  energy  and  wise  forethought  of 
a  firm  that  hesitates  at  no  difficulty  and  successfully  overcomes  every 
obstacle  calculated  to  impede  its  progress.  The  new  pattern  shops 
occupy  a  space  directly  north  of  the  new  machine  building,  a  com- 
modious shipping  office  being  near  the  railroad  in  the  yards,  while  the 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  171 

general  office  building,  which  was  erected  in  1904,  is  one  of  the  finest 
and  best  arranged  edifices  of  the  kind  in  the  city.  This  splendid 
brick  structure  is  two  stories  high,  and  contains  twelve  apartments, 
devoted  to  as  many  specific  uses,  the  first  floor  being  occupied  by  the 
offices  of  the  president,  treasurer,  acting  cashier,  superintendent  and 
correspondence  room,  the  whole  connected  by  a  complete  private 
telephone  exchange,  enabling  the  different  officials  to  communicate 
with  each  other  easily  and  expeditiously.  On  the  second  floor  are 
the  engineering  and  drafting  rooms,  a  series  of  engineers'  offices  for 
private  correspondence,  room  for  storage  of  tracings,  cost  and  ac- 
counting department,  also  a  full  photographic  equipment,  this  part 
of  the  building  being  constructed  of  brick  and  concrete  and  rendered 
as  nearly  fire-proof  as  art  can  devise. 

Since  the  erection  of  the  buildings  referred  to  and  the  practical 
reconstruction  of  the  works  other  improvements  have  been  added  at 
intervals,  and  various  departments  increased  so  as  to  afford  facili- 
ties for  a  business  that  has  grown  in  magnitude  with  each  recurring 
year,  and  whose  vast  proportions  at  this  time  bespeak  greater  en- 
largement of  the  plant  in  the  no  distant  future.  Ground  to  the  east 
of  the  works  has  been  secured,  plans  have  been  prepared  and  the 
company  has  under  consideration  the  erection  of  a  number  of  addi- 
tional buildings  which  when  completed  will,  with  those  already  in 
use,  constitute  an  establishment  second  to  no  other  of  the  kind  in  the 
United  States. 

As  already  indicated,  the  Kerr  Murray  Company,  since  the  '80s, 
have  made  the  manufacture  of  gas  apparatus  a  specialty,  being  one 
of  the  few  concerns  in  the  country  engaged  in  this  particular  line  of 
industry.  Experts  in.  their  employ  have  made  a  close  and  critical 
study  of  the  subtle  fluid,  and  many  of  the  most  important  results  of 
scientific  research  in  the  way  of  apparatus  for  handling  and  storing 
the  same  have  emanated  from  this  establishment.  The  principal  prod- 
uct at  this  time  consists  of  the  following:  Complete  apparatus  for 
the  manufacture  and  storage  of  illuminating  gas,  coal  gas  benches, 
water  gas  sets,  rotary  and  steam  jet  exhausters,  automatic  valve,  con- 
ceded to  be  the  best  on  the  market,  Pelouze  &  Audouin  tar  extracters, 
washers,  scrubbers,  condensers,  purifiers,  gas  valves  and  fittings,  re- 


172  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

tort  house  roofs  and  floors,  gas  holders,  steel  tanks,  in  fact  every  de- 
vice and  appliance  for  the  making  and  handling  of  gas. 

The  number  of  men  employed  by  the  company  will  average  about 
four  hundred  per  year,  including  from  one  hundred  to  one  hundred 
and  fifty  engaged  in  the  installing  of  plants  in  various  parts  of  the 
country.  The  force  at  the  works  in  this  city  consists  of  experienced 
and  thoroughly  capable  mechanics  selected  with  especial  reference 
to  fitness  for  their  respective  lines  of  work,  also  of  more  skilled  arti- 
sans for  the  departments  in  which  a  high  order  of  technical  training 
is  required,  among  the  latter  being  several  that  have  gained  wide  dis- 
tinction as  inventors.  Since  beginning  the  manufacture  of  gas  ap- 
paratus the  company  has  installed  plants  in  the  leading  cities  of 
nearly  every  state  in  the  Union  and  Canada,  the  purifying  boxes  and 
other,  apparatus  in  the  three  Chicago  plants  being  among  the  largest 
in  the  United  States  and  constructed  on  a  system  of  the  company's 
own  invention  which  is  conceded  to  be  in  every  respect  superior  to 
any  other.  While  ever  maintaining  a  conservative  policy  and  mak- 
ing no  special  efforts  to  give  their  business  publicity,  the  character 
of  its  work  furnishing  its  best  advertisements,  the  proprietors  of  this 
great  enterprise  have  contributed  largely  to  the  upbuilding  of  Fort 
Wayne  and  the  advancement  of  its  various  interests,  while  the  people 
have  ever  viewed  with  pride  the  presence  of  an  establishment  which 
for  many  years  has  done  as  much  as  any  other  to  spread  the  name  and 
fame  of  this  city  abroad.  The  personnel  of  the  company  at  this  time 
is  as  follows :  A.  D.  Cressler,  president ;  G.  H.  Cressler,  secretary, 
and  A.  M.  Cressler,  treasurer;  A.  J.  Parisot  being  the  efficient  super- 
intendent of  the  plant. 

Between  the  proprietors  and  their  employees  a  mutual  interest 
has  ever  been  maintained,  several  of  the  latter  having  been  identified 
with  the  enterprise  for  more  than  an  average  life  time,  notably 
among  whom  are  H.  J.  Remmert,  superintendent  of  construction, 
who  entered  the  employ  of  the  company  forty-three  years  ago,  and 
William  H.  Crighton,  chief  engineer,  whose  record  covers  a  period 
of  over  forty  years  of  continuous  service. 

ELECTRICAL    WORKS. 

Fort  Wayne  was  among  the  first  of  western  cities  in  the  manu- 
facture of  electrical  machinery  and  appliances,  and  since  i88t  the 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  173 

industry  at  this  point  has  grown  to  large  proportions,  the  Jenny 
Electric  Light  Company  and  the  City  Electric  Works  being  among 
the  largest  and  most  successful  enterprises  of  the  kind  in  the  United 
States. 

The  Jenny  Electric  Light  Company  was  incorporated  in  Novem- 
ber, 1 88 1,  with  a  capital  stock  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  the 
originators  of  the  enterprise  and  principal  stockholders  being  O.  A. 
Simons,  J.  H.  Bass,  H.  G.  Olds,  John  Evans  and  R.  T.  McDonald, 
Mr.  Evans  retiring  from  the  company  in  1882,  and  his  place  as  a 
member  of  the  board  of  directors  being  taken  by  P.  A.  Randall,  who 
purchased  his  stock  and  had  since  been  actively  identified  with  the 
industry.  The  board  of  directors  under  which  the  company  contin- 
ued from  its  corporation  until  1894,  when  the  concern  was  sold  to 
the  Fort  Wayne  Electrical  Corporation,  consisted  of  the  following 
members :  R.  T.  McDonald,  J.  H.  Bass,  H.  G.  Olds,  Oscar  A.  Si- 
mons, Winfield  M.  Simons  and  P.  A.  Randall,  the  last,  as  indicated 
above,  purchasing  an  interest  in  the  enterprise  in  1882.  Under  the 
management  of  the  Fort  Wayne  Electrical  Corporation  the  business 
of  the  company  was  conducted  during  the  ensuing  five  years,  when 
it  was  merged  into  the  General  Electric  Company,  being  purchased 
by  the  latter  concern  in  1890. 

The  company  began  business  in  a  small  building  connected  with 
the  Fort  Wayne  Iron  Works,  on  Superior  street,  but  later  moved 
to  a  larger  building  on  South  Superior  street,  near  the  Nickle  Plate 
Railroad,  thence  to  the  Randall  building,  on  East  Columbia  street, 
where  it  remained  until  transferred  to  the  present  location  on  Broad- 
way and  the  Pittsburg,  Fort  Wayne  &  Chicago  Railroad,  in  the  year 

1885. 

On  November  22,  1888,  the  building  which  had  been  erected  at 
the  place  last  named  was  destroyed  by  fire,  entailing  a  heavy  loss  on 
the  company,  but  plans  were  at  once  prepared  for  rebuilding  on  a 
much  more  extensive  scale  and  in  due  time  the  structure  was  com- 
pleted and  the  business  renewed.  The  building,  to  which  additions 
have  been  made  from  time  to  time  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  large 
and  steadily  growing  business,  is  a  large  three-story  brick  structure, 
well  adapted  to  the  purposes  for  which  designed,  and  is  not  only  one 
of  the  most  important  industrials  plants,  but  ranks  with  the  leading 
manufacturing  establishments  of  the  kind  in  the  west. 


174  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

The  first  patents  used  by  the  company  were  chiefly  those  of 
James  A.  and  Charles  D.  Jenny,  whose  reputation  was  second  to  that 
of  no  other  electricians  in  the  United  States,  and  the  fame  of  these 
gentlemen  soon  became  world-wide,  which  fact  gave  the  company 
great  prestige  in  electrical  circles  and  an  influence  which  added 
greatly  to  the  reputation  of  the  city  as  the  center  of  important  indus- 
trial enterprises.  Another  fact  which  added  to  the  high  standing  of 
the  company  and  to  the  strengthening  of  its  prestige  was  the  winning 
of  an  important  lawsuit  in  which  the  Alder  Brush  Electric  Company 
of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  sought  to  injure  the  company  by  suing  an  In- 
dianapolis firm  which  used  the  Jenny  light,  for  damages,  by  reason 
of  infringement  of  patent,  the  case  being  hotly  contested  and  each 
side  represented  by  the  ablest  lawyers  that  could  be  obtained. 

About  the  year  1887  Mr.  Slattery,  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
of  the  world's  electricians,  was  secured,  and  his  ingenious  electrical 
devices  gave  additional  reputation  to  the  company  throughout  the 
United  States  and  Canada,  and  gained  for  it  a  greatly  increased  pat- 
ronage. His  system  of  producing  light  by  alternate  currents  of 
electricity  soon  revolutionized  the  business  of  electrical  illumination, 
and  for  several  years  the  company  made  a  specialty  of  the  Slattery 
patents,  paying  particular  attention  to  the  incandescent  light  which 
bore  his  name,  and  which  during  the  time  of  its  use  was  greatly  su- 
perior to  any  other  light  on  the  market. 

The  adoption  of  the  Jenny  electric  light  by  many  of  the  leading 
cities  of  the  United  States  is  the  best  guarantee  of  its  efficiency  and 
superiority,  the  greater  part  of  New  York  being  lighted  by  this  sys- 
tem, in  addition  to  which  it  is  found  in  other  populous  centers 
throughout  the  country,  and  there  is  hardly  a  city  in  which  it  is  not 
used  nor  a  line  of  steamboats  that  has  not  chosen  it  in  preference  to 
all  others. 

The  company  continued  the  use  of  the  Slattery  devices  until  the 
death  of  the  patentee,  but  the  most  remarkable  era  in  the  history  of 
the  concern  began  in  1890,  when  James  J.  Wood,  admittedly  one  of 
the  greatest  and  most  skillful  electrical  experts  in  the  world,  became 
identified  with  the  firm.  Since  the  above  year  especial  attention  has 
been  given  to  the  manufacture  of  his  various  electrical  inventions, 
which  in  point  of  skill  and  general  utility  claim  superiority  over  those 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  175 

of  any  other  establishment  of  the  kind  in  the  world,  which  claim  is 
universally  admitted  by  electricians  and  scientific  men  in  every  coun- 
try on  the  globe,  many  of  his  devices  being  marvelous  in  design  and 
construction  and  a  constant  source  of  wonder  to  all  who  have  intel- 
ligently observed  or  investigated  the  mysterious  force  which  is 
conceded  to  be  one  of  nature's  most  subtle  and  powerful  agencies. 

The  merging  of  the  Jenny  Electric  Light  Company  into  the  Fort 
Wayne  Electric  Works  leads  logically  to  a  review  of  the  latter  con- 
cern, some  facts  pertaining  to  which  appear  on  other  pages  in  this 
volume.  In  tracing  the  history  of  this  large  and  steadily  growing 
industry,  which  as  much  perhaps  as  any  other  of  Fort  Wayne's 
numerous  manufacturing  establishments  has  spread  the  name  and 
fame  of  the  city  throughout  the  civilized  world,  the  writer  takes  the 
privilege  of  drawing  largely  from  a  souvenir  entitled  "Fort  Wayne 
Up  to  Date,"  issued  by  the  News  in  the  year  1894. 

"Unparallelled  in  a  city  of  manufacturing  successes  has  been 
the  remarkable  rise  and  progress  of  the  Fort  Wayne  Electric  Com- 
pany, an  establishment  which  was  in  its  infancy  ten  years  ago 
(1884)  and  which  today  stands  in  the  very  first  rank  of  our  great 
industries.  Its  history  would  read  like  a  romance;  the  story  of  its 
early  struggles,  of  its  tenacious  fight  for  existence,  of  the  lack  of 
confidence  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  stockholders,  of  the  hopeful 
and  enduring  contest  of  its  managers,  of  its  slow  but  steady  growth, 
of  the  obstacles  met  and  surmounted,  of  its  final  triumph,  and  bril- 
liant success,  gaining  victory  over  every  rival  in  the  great  field  of 
electrical  science,  would  fill  a  volume  teeming  with  interest  to  those 
who  delight  in  the  contemplation  of  splendid  achievements." 

The  leading  spirit  in  the  inception  of  the  enterprise  and  to  whom 
is  due  the  credit  of  protecting  and  carrying  it  forward,  and  later  of 
preserving  it  for  the  city,  was  R.  T.  McDonald,  who  organized  the 
original  company  and,  with  a  few  hundred  dollars  of  paid-up  capital, 
started  the  business  in  a  very  modest  way  in  a  small  building  which 
stood  near  the  Nickle  Plate  Railroad,  a  short  distance  west  of  Har- 
rison street.  Under  his  efficient  management  it  soon  outgrew  those 
dilapidated  quarters  and  was  moved  to  a  more  commodious  building 
erected  for  the  purpose,  on  East  Columbia  street.  Later  land  was 
purchased    and   a    new    factory   building   of   enlarged    proportions 


176  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

erected  on  Broadway,  near  the  Pittsburg,  Fort  Wayne  &  Chicago 
Railroad,  where  the  business  was  carried  on  during  the  several  en- 
suing years,  but  in  a  manner  not  at  all  satisfactory  to  the  manager, 
who,    forseeing    the    wonderful    possibilities    of    the   enterprise    if 
properly  financed,  chafed  under  the  indifference  of  the  stockholders, 
each  of  whom  invested  the  sum  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars,  and  were 
clamoring  for  dividends  before  the  enterprise  was  fairly  under  head- 
way, the  meanwhile  declining  to  increase  their  subscription.     This 
indifference  and  lack  of  interest  tended  greatly  to  retard  the  progress 
of  the  enterprise  which  stood  in  such  pressing  need  of  improvement, 
but  the  manager,  with  a  spirit  that  hesitated  at  no  obstacles,  hit  upon 
an  expedient  which  effectually  removed  the  difficulty  and  paved  the 
way  to  the  achievement  he  knew  to  be  possible  and  which  from  the 
beginning  he  kept  constantly  in  view.    Going  to  New  York,  he  con- 
ferred with  certain  capitalists  whom  he  succeeded  in  interesting  in 
the  enterprise,  the  result  being  that  his  co-ad jutors  in  Fort  Wayne 
were  not  only  surprised,  but  startled,  when  he  wired  for  their  ac- 
ceptance of  an  offer  of  eighty  thousand  dollars  apiece  for  their 
interest  in  a  property  that  had  cost  each  of  them  the  insignificant  sum 
of  fifteen  hundred  dollars.    The  deal  was  made  and  the  Fort  Wayne 
Electric  Company  passed  into  the  hands  of  a  great  and  wealthy  cor- 
poration, but  as  Mr.  McDonald  had  been  true  to  the  interests  of  the 
local  stockholders,  securing  to  them  the  munificent  results  of  a  sen- 
sational sale,  so  he  was  true  to  the  interests  of  the  city,  for  he  made 
the  sale  conditional  upon1  the  plant  being  maintained  at  Fort  Wayne. 

A  little  later  came  the  disastrous  fire  that  reduced  the  plant  to  a 
mass  of  ruins,  following  which  the  corporation  controlling  the 
enterprise  again  proposed  moving  the  establishment  east,  where 
vacant  buildings  owned  by  them  could  easily  be  utilized  in  resuming 
the  business.  To  this  proposition  Mr.  McDonald  strenuously  ob- 
jected and  did  all  within  his  power  to  retain  the  enterprise  in  Fort 
Wayne.  The  company  was  just  as  obdurate  in  its  determination  to 
move,  but  desiring  above  all  things  to  retain  Mr.  McDonald's 
services,  a  compromise  was  finally  effected  to  the  end  that  if  the 
citizens  would  erect  a  building  on  a  scale  commensurate  with  the 
demands  upon  it,  the  plant  should  remain  in  the  west. 

The  matter,  being  adjusted  to  the  satisfaction  of  these  most  con- 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  177 

1 
cerned,  was  presented  to  the  citizens  by  a  committee  consisting  of 
some  of  the  leading  business  men  of  the  city  who  made  a  prompt 
and  active  canvass,  which  resulted  in  contributions  to  the  amount 
of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars.  With  this  sum  the  plant  was  im- 
mediately rebuilt  on  a  much  more  extensive  scale  than  the  original 
structure,  additional  land  was  acquired,  and  from  time  to  time  the 
company  extended  its  buildings  so  as  to  meet  the  steadily  growing 
increasing  demand  for  its  products.  A  large  number  of  men, 
amounting  at  one  time  to  eleven  hundred,  were  given  employment, 
the  highest  class  of  skilled  artists  and  artisans  were  brought  from 
abroad,  many  expert  workmen  being  attracted  here  from  New  York, 
Brooklyn  and  other  eastern  cities. 

It  would  be  impossible  in  the  brief  space  left  to  narrate  in  detail 
all  that  has  been  accomplished  for  Fort  Wayne  by  this  great  industry, 
or  what  its  influence  has  been  in  giving  the  city  publicity  and 
prestige  abroad.  Not  the  least  of  the  benefits  of  its  presence  is  the 
disbursement  of  from  twenty-five  thousand  to  thirty-five  thousand 
dollars  per  month  among  our  citizens,  besides  affording  remuner- 
ative employment  to  an  army  of  workmen  and  the  development  of 
new  suburbs  in  which  have  been  erected  hundreds  of  comfortable 
homes,  with  the  accompanying  auxiliaries  of  school  houses,  churches, 
public  halls  and  beautiful  parks  where  the  employees  and  families 
find  rest  and  recreation.  It  has  also  made  Fort  Wayne  the  best 
lighted  place  in  America  and,  as  already  indicated,  advertised  it  per- 
haps as  no  other  city  in  the  United  States  has  been  advertised,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  numerous  delegations  of  visitors  who  have  been  and 
are  still  being  attracted  hither  to  visit  the  mammoth  establishment, 
witness  the  busy  working  of  its  interior  and  behold  with  amazement 
the  wonderful  mechanism  which  its  skilled  workmen  produce. 

The  company  manufactures  all  kinds  of  electrical  apparatus  and 
appliances  for  the  lighting  of  towns,  cities  and  buildings,  besides 
putting  in  plants,  among  some  of  the  smaller  articles  being  arc 
lamps  of  all  kinds  and  for  any  circuit,  alternators,  high  or  low  fre- 
quency, transformers,  generators,  motors,  etc.  One  of  the  latest 
as  well  as  one  of  the  most  skillful  and  curious  of  all  of  Mr.  Wood's 
wonderful  inventions  manufactured  at  this  plant  is  a  "prepaid 
meter."  by  means  of  which  the  exact  equivalent  of  electricity  of  any 
12 


178  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER     BASIN. 

sum  of  money  not  exceeding  one  dollar  may  be  had  by  merely 
dropping  a  coin  into  a  receptacle  which  connects  with  the  meter. 

THE  BOWSER  OIL  TANK  INDUSTRY. 

This  enterprise,  which  occupies  a  unique  place  among  the  in- 
dustries of  the  country,  was  established  by  Sylvanus  F.  and  Allen 
A.  Bowser,  who  in  1885  began  in  a  modest  way,  in  an  unpretentious 
building  on  the  South  Side,  the  manufacture  of  tanks  and  devices 
for  the  handling  of  oils.  These  devices  were  the  inventions  of  Mr. 
S.  F.  Bowser,  who  spent  a  number  of  years  in  perfecting  them. 
Feeling  that  they  would  be  acceptable  to  the  trade,  he  secured  the 
necessary  patents  and,  taking  the  road  in  their  interests,  soon  suc- 
ceeded in  building  up  quite  a  prosperous  business,  which  in  due  time 
led  to  the  organization  of  a  company  and  the  enlargement  of  the 
manufacturing  facilities,  the  former  being  effected  on  July  1,  1888. 
Under  the  new  management  a  three-story  frame  building,  with 
twenty  thousand  square  feet  of  floor  space,  was  erected  and  equipped 
with  a  full  line  of  machinery,  and  with  these  increased  facilities  the 
enterprise  was  given  an  impetus  which  soon  placed  it  among  the 
leading  industries  of  the  city. 

On  July  28,  1894,  a  serious  disaster  overtook  the  company  in 
the  complete  destruction  of  their  plant  by  fire,  not  so  much  as  a 
wagon  load  remaining  unburned,  except  the  fine  new  brick  office 
which  had  been  finished  but  two  weeks  prior,  and  even  this  was 
very  badly  damaged.  With  the  energy  which  has  ever  characterized 
them,  the  proprietors  at  once  began  to  rebuild  and  in  due  time  a 
fine  new  plant  of  brick,  iron  and  heavy  timber  and  of  greatly  en- 
larged proportions,  was  erected  on  the  original  site,  being  considered 
when  completed  one  of  the  best  fire-proof  factories  in  the  state.  It 
was  finely  equipped  with  machinery  and  every  appliance  necessary 
to  carry  on  the  business  in  the  most  economical  manner,  having 
among  other  advantages  large  ware-rooms  in  the  rear,  fifty  feet  from 
the  main  building,  in  which  to  store  surplus  stock,  these  ware-rooms 
being  roofed  and  sided  with  iron  in  keeping  with  the  main 
structure,  from  a  standpoint  of  safety. 

The  firm  had  its  own  electric  plant  for  arc  and  incandescent  light- 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  179 

ing  by  which  the  factory,  offices,  residences  and  stables  were  bril- 
liantly illuminated.  In  these  pleasant  quarters,  with  a  largely  in- 
creasing force,  the  business  was  prosecuted  with  the  same  energy 
that  had  characterized  the  procedure  from  the  beginning,  and  the 
rapid  extension  of  the  trade  gave  to  the  firm  a  high  reputation  in 
business  circles  throughout  the  entire  country. 

A  feature  of  the  company  that  has  added  much  to  its  success 
is  the  annual  conventions  of  its  salesmen,  the  first  of  which  was  held 
in  January,  1896,  when,  during  a  two  days'  congress,  everything 
relating  to  the  business  was  thoroughly  discussed  to  the  mutual 
benefit  of  all  concerned,  and  plans  perfected  for  the  future.  These 
meetings  have  been  held  each  successive  year  since  the  above  date 
and  the  advantages  derived  therefrom  have  tended  greatly  to  the 
building  up  of  the  business,  besides  continually  adding  to  the  enviable 
standing  of  the  company  in  the  world  of  trade. 

It  was  while  preparations  were  in  progress  for  the  annual  meet- 
ing to  be  held  in  January,  1898,  that,  on  the  morning  of  December 
25th  preceding,  the  fire  fiend  again  visited  the  works,  completely 
destroying  half  of  it  and  badly  damaging  the  other  half,  entailing 
a  very  heavy  loss,  as  the  building  was  insured  for  only  a  moderate 
amount.  With  the  same  energy  and  decision  which  had  before 
characterized  them,  the  Messrs.  Bowser  at  once  set  about  to  restore 
the  burned  portion,  and  on  January  7,  1898,  contracts  were  let  for 
the  construction  of  the  buildings,  for  engines,  dynamos  and  other 
machinery  and  appliances,  all  of  which  were  completed  and  delivered, 
so  that  by  the  middle  of  February  following  the  plant  was  finished 
and  in  full  operation.  The  plant  as  it  now  stands  is  one  of  the 
finest  and  most  attractive  industrial  establishments  to  be  found  any- 
where, the  main  building  being  two  hundred  by  two  hundred  feet 
in  area,  with  an  addition  one  hundred  by  two  hundred  feet,  the 
structure  throughout  being  equipped  with  machinery  of  the  most 
approved  type,  while  nothing  has  been  spared  to  make  it  complete 
in  its  every  department. 

In  addition  to  their  tanks  and  various  devices  for  the  successful 
handling  of  all  kinds  of  oil,  the  firm  makes  a  new  line  of  high  grade 
washboards  which,  like  the  principal  product,  has  proved  a  great 
success,  the  rapid  growth  of  this  branch  so  overtaxing  the  capacity 


180  THE   MAUMEE    RIVER     BASIN. 

that  an  addition  was  recently  made  to  the  main  building  for  this 
especial  line  of  manufacture. 

The  Messrs.  Bowser  sell  all  their  goods  direct,  either  by  traveling 
salesmen  or  mail  orders,  and  at  this  time  they  are  represented  by 
experienced  men  in  nearly  every  state  of  the  union,  also  in  Canada 
and  Cuba,  besides  doing  a  large  export  business  by  mail.  The  prin- 
cipal articles  in  the  line  of  oil  devices  are  the  Perfect  measuring  oil 
tanks,  for  retail  use;  druggist's  graduate  oil  cabinets;  adjustable 
measure  for  handling  lubricating  oils  for  factory  use ;  gasoline  stor- 
age outfits;  complete  oil  house  equipments  for  railroads  and  fac- 
tories, all  of  which,  as  already  indicated,  are  of  Mr.  Bowser's  own 
invention  and  as  nearly  perfect  as  inventive  genius  and  mechanical 
ingenuity  can  make  them.  The  largest  order  ever  received  by  the 
company  was  for  five  carloads  of  the  Complete  oil  house  equipment 
and  factory  distribution  device,  from  the  Singer  Manufacturing 
Company,  of  Kilbowie,  Scotland,  the  shipment  of  which  was  made 
in  April,  1905.  Other  large  shipments  are  continually  being  made 
and  the  business  has  so  increased  that  it  now  represents  the  enormous 
sum  of  nearly  seven  hundred  thousand  dollars  per  year,  with  the 
prospects  of  soon  greatly  exceeding  these  figures. 

To  run  the  factory  at  its  normal  capacity  the  services  of  one 
hundred  and  forty  operatives  are  required,  in  addition  to  whom 
there  is  an  office  and  clerical  force  of  forty  persons  and  five  sales- 
men in  addition  to  the  home  plant.  The  firm  maintains  branches  at 
Boston,  Massachusetts,  and  Toronto,  Canada,  fourteen  people  being 
employed  at  the  former  and  six  at  the  latter.  The  following,  from  a 
beautifully  illustrated  souvenir  issued  by  the  company  in  1899, 
furnishes  a  very  appropriate*  conclusion  to  these  articles. 

"The  Messrs.  Bowser  knew  the  worth  of  their  goods  from  the 
first.  How  to  make  a  success  of  the  business  with  almost  no  capital 
(being  in  the  fix  usual  to  inventors)  was  the  problem  solved  by 
these  gentlemen;  a  problem  that  has  distracted  and  impoverished 
many  bright  men  since  the  era  of  invention  began. 

"That  the  Bowsers  are  able,  by  sheer  force  of  personal  integritv 
and  tireless  energy,  to  carry  out  this  enterprise,  gradually  increas- 
ing its  capacity  to  meet  the  growing  demands,  without  incurring 
liabilities  fatal  to  its  prosperity,  is  a  consummation  for  which  they 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  181 

have  cause  for  self-congratulation  and  in  which  every  citizen  of 
Fort  Wayne  has  an  interest,  since  the  product  of  this  factory  has 
done  so  much  to  advertise  the  name  of  their  fair  city." 

FOUNDRIES    AND    MACHINE    SHOPS. 

This  line  of  industries  has  long-  been  among'  the  leading-  interests 
of  Fort  Wayne  and  at  the  present  time  there  are  quite  a  number  of 
large  establishments,  all  in  capable  hands  and  doing"  an  extensive 
business.  The  Central  Foundry  Company,  whose  works  are  on  the 
southwest  corner  of  Clinton  and  Fourth  streets,  is  among"  the  lead- 
ing establishments  of  the  kind,  having  thoroughly  equipped  shops 
in  which  all  grades  of  work  in  the  line  are  carried  on  quite  ex- 
tensively, the  business  being  ably  managed  and  the  firm  one  of  the 
strongest  and  most  successful  of  the  kind  in  the  city. 

The  Menifee  Foundry  Company,  which  does  a  general  foundry 
and  machine  shop  business,  has  a  large  and  well  equipped  plant  at 
Nos.  2321  and  232J  Oliver  street,  where  a  full  force  of  skillful 
mechanics  are  required  to  enable  the  firm  to  do  the  vast  amount  of 
work  which  it  has  constantly  on  hand. 

The  leading  enterprise  of  the  kind  in  the  city,  however,  as  well 
as  the  oldest,  is  the  Fort  Wayne  Foundry  and  Machine  Company, 
on  the  southeast  corner  of  Harrison  and  Superior  streets,  of  which 
John  H.  Bass  is  president;  C.  T.  Strawbridge,  secretary;  F.  S. 
Lightfoot,  treasurer,  and  A.  W.  Pickard,  assistant  treasurer,  but  as 
this  foundry  is  now  a  part  of  the  J.  H.  Bass  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, its  history  will  be  found  in  connection  with  the  latter  enter- 
prise on  another  page  of  this  chapter. 

The  Indiana  Machine  Works,  on  Osage  street  and  the  canal 
basin,  is  also  an  old  and  reliable  concern,  the  high  grade  of  its  work 
giving  it  a  reputation  second  to  that  of  no  other  works  of  the  kind 
in  the  city.  Firmly  established  and  conducted  on  sound  business 
principles,  the  enterprise  has  been  remarkably  successful  and  its 
steady  advancement  under  a  safe  and  conservative  policy,  augurs 
well  for  its  future  growth  and  prosperity. 

W.  E.  Harden,  who  is  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  building 
columns,    iron   and   brass   castings,    with   general   job  work   as   a 


182  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER     BASIN. 

specialty,  has  a  model  plant  on  the  corner  of  Barr  and  Duck  streets, 
which  is  operated  by  a  large  force  of  artisans,  selected  with  reference 
to  their  efficiency  and  skill  in  the  lines  of  work  required  of  them. 
Mr.  Harden  commands  an  extensive  patronage,  there  being  a  great 
demand  for  his  building  material  in  Fort  Wayne  and  other  points, 
and  in  due  time  his  establishment  is  destined  to  grow  into  one  of 
the  city's  most  important  industries. 

Frank  Gruber  conducts  a  prosperous  business  in  the  making  and 
repairing  of  boilers  and  similar  work,  his  shops  on  the  east  side  of 
Barr  and  north  of  Superior  street,  being  well  equipped,  while  it? 
high  standing  in  industrial  circles  has  drawn  to  him  a  business 
of  constantly  growing  magnitude.  Other  establishments  besides 
those  enumerated  do  a  general  machine  shop  and  repair  business, 
and  the  same  line  of  work  is  carried  on  by  a  number  of  the  larger 
manufacturing  concerns  where  it  is  made  subordinate  to  the  regular 
output. 

In  the  manufacture  of  engines  Fort  Wayne  easily  stands  in  the 
front  rank  of  Indiana's  great  industrial  cities,  this  line  of  enterprise 
being  represented  by  a  number  of  firms  and  many  thousands  of 
capital,  the  product  ranging  in  size  from  the  small  gas  engine  of 
very  limited  capacity  to  the  mammoth  Corliss  type,  used  only  where 
great  motive  power  is  required.  In  the  production  of  the  latter  the 
J.  H.  Bass  Manufacturing  Company  leads  not  only  in  Fort  Wayne, 
but  in  Indiana  and  the  greater  part  of  the  central  and  western  states ; 
in  the  manufacture  of  other  grades  there  are  several  concerns  whose 
business  has  grown  to  great  proportions  and  whose  reputation  for 
high  class  workmanship  is  much  more  than  local.  Among  the  firms 
that  do  a  large  and  lucrative  business  in  this  line  of  industry  is  the 
L.  A.  Centlivre  Manufacturing  Company,  which  operates  a  finely 
equipped  plant  on  the  northwest  corner  of  Superior  street  and  Spy 
Run,  the  principal  output  consisting  of  different  types  of  gas 
engines,  which  are  extensively  used  and  for  which  there  is  a  con- 
stantly increasing  demand.  The  engines  made  by  this  company  are 
models  of  ingenuity,  combining  the  latest  discoveries  and  improve- 
ments in  the  realm  of  scientific  invention,  and  in  all  that  constitutes 
high  grade  workmanship  and  mechanical  skill  they  challenge  com- 
parison with  any  on  the  market. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  183 

j 

The  Haberkorn  Engine  Company,  whose  plant,  at  the  corner 
of  Grant  street  and  the  Wabash  Railroad,  has  forged  to  the  front 
as  a  leading  industrial  establishment,  was  incorporated  on  July  5, 
1900,  with  a  capital  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  the  object  being  the 
building  of  engines,  various  styles  and  grades  of  which  have  been 
produced  in  numbers  sufficient  to  supply  the  growing  demand  from 
all  parts  of  the  country.  Their  use  has  fully  demonstrated  their 
value  and  justified  every  claim  made  for  them  by  the  company, 
while  their  popularity  is  attested  by  the  progress  of  the  business 
which,  as  above  stated,  has  become  quite  extensive,  with  encouraging 
prospects  of  still  greater  growth.  The  men  at  the  head  of  this  con- 
cern are  practical  and  enterprising,  with  large  experience  in  the  line 
of  business  to  which  their  energies  are  being  devoted,  their  deep 
interest  in  the  company  affording  abundant  assurance  of  its  con- 
tinued success.  G.  H.  Loesch  is  president;  T.  D.  Hoham,  secretary, 
and  F.  L.  Jones,  treasurer. 

The  making  of  engines  is  carried  on  to  a  greater  or  less  extent 
by  other  than  the  parties  mentioned,  but  sufficient  has  been  said  to 
afford  a  fairly  accurate  idea  of  the  growth  and  present  scope  of  a 
business  which  has  added  greatly  to  Fort  Wayne's  importance  as  a 
great  industrial  city  and  which,  at  no  distant  day,  is  destined  to  grow 
to  much  larger  proportions  and  become  if  not  the  first,  at  least  among 
the  first  manufacturing  enterprise  in  this  part  of  the  state. 

Prominent  among  the  rising  industries  of  Fort  Wayne  whose 
growth  in  public  favor  has  elicited  a  great  deal  of  attention  and  met 
the  approval  of  the  rural  populace,  is  the  Indiana  Road  Machine 
Company,  which  was  organized  a  few  years  ago  by  a  number  of  the 
city's  representative  men,  the  product  of  the  concern  being  indicated 
by  the  style  of  the  firm. 

The  matter  of  the  improvement  of  public  highways  has  been 
agitated  of  recent  years  throughout  the  entire  country,  especially  in 
the  northern  and  central  states,  some  of  the  ablest  public  men  of  the 
nation  giving  it  their  attention,  while  able  and  scholarly  articles  in 
favor  of  the  good  road  movement  have  appeared  from  time  to  time 
in  the  columns  of  our  leading  newspapers,  magazines  and  other 
periodicals.  To  construct  good  roads  without  proper  material  is 
manifestly  impossible,  and  it  is  just  as  impossible  to  engage  in  the 


1 84  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER     BASIN. 

undertaking'  with  the  prospect  of  success  when  improperly  equipped 
with  poor  or  indifferent  machinery  and  labor-saving  devices. 

It  was  the  latter  need  that  led  to  the  organization  of  the  com- 
pany under  consideration.  Men  who  had  devoted  years  to  the  im- 
provement of  road-making  machinery  finally  succeeded  in  perfecting 
certain  devices  which  fully  met  their  expectations,  and  in  due  time 
after  letters  patent  had  been  granted  a  company  was  organized  in 
Fort  Wayne  for  their  manufacture.  This  company,  as  already  in- 
dicated, consists  of  some  of  the  city's  most  energetic  men,  and  noth- 
ing has  been  spared  to  place  the  enterprise  upon  a  solid  basis  and 
make  it  answer  the  purpose  for  which  organized.  It  was  incorpor- 
ated with  a  capital  stock  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  a  large  brick 
building  was  erected  on  the  east  side  of  Osage  street,  and  within 
a  comparatively  short  time  the  plant  was  fully  equipped  and  in 
operation,  the  success  from  the  beginning  more  than  meeting  the 
expectations  of  the  promoters  and  stockholders  and  justifying  the 
investment  required  to  inaugurate  the  business. 

Various  kinds  of  road  machinery  are  manufactured  by  the  com- 
pany and  the  sales  have  been  large  and  confined  to  no  particular  sec- 
tion or  state,  orders  coming  from  nearly  all  of  the  northern  and 
central  states,  while  an  extensive  trade  has  also  been  built  up  in  the 
southern  and  eastern  parts  of  the  country,  the  value  of  the  various 
devices  being  fully  demonstrated  wherever  used.  The  officials  of 
the  company  at  this  writing  are  as  follows :  A.  Ely  Hoffman, 
president;  J.  C.  Peters,  vice-president;  J.  M.  Landenberger,  secre- 
tary and  treasurer. 

THE  WAGON  AND  CARRIAGE  INDUSTRY. 

The  making  of  various  kinds  of  wheeled  vehicles  early  engaged 
the  attention  of  Fort  Wayne  mechanics,  and  ere  the  town  had  fairly 
emerged  from  the  condition  of  a  backwoods  hamlet  several  shops  were 
in  operation.  In  the  main  these  were  shops  for  blacksmithing  and 
general  repair  work,  and  it  was  only  when  specially  ordered  that 
vehicles  were  constructed,  but  as  population  increased  and  the  ne- 
cessity of  a  division  of  labor  became  apparent,  skilled  mechanics 
were  attracted  to  the  place  and  it  was  not  long  until  wagon  and  car- 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  185 

riage  making"  grew  into  an  important  industry.  Without  entering 
into  a  detailed  account  of  the  several  wagon-making  shops  that  were 
located  here  from  time  to  time,  suffice  it  to  state  that  the  oldest  and 
for  many  years  the  leading  establishment  of  the  kind  is  the  City 
Carriage  Works,  which  was  organized  in  1857,  and  which  has 
maintained  a  continuous  existence  to  the  present  day,  being  still  in 
a  healthy  financial  condition,  and,  as  formerly,  meeting  its  com- 
petitors on  a  common  ground  and  holding  its  own  among  them. 
Formerly  this  establishment  did  a  large  and  lucrative  business  in 
the  manufacture  of  carriages,  buggies  and  sleighs,  nearly  all  of 
which  were  sold  to  the  local  trade,  but  of  recent  years  the  output  has 
not  been  so  great,  although  the  works  are  still  on  a  sound  financial 
basis  and  the  vehicles  wherever  disposed  of  are  noted  for  their  high 
grade  of  workmanship,  also  for  the  excellency  of  the  material  used 
and  durability  to  withstand  the  roughest  kind  of  usage. 

The  factory,  a  substantial  three-story  brick  building,  sixty  by 
one  hundred  feet  in  area,  with  the  usual  accessories  in  the  way  of 
sheds  and  dry  houses,  is  located  on  Clay  street,  in  addition  to  which 
there  is  a  large  storage  warehouse  on  Clinton  street,  where  the 
product  of  the  establishment  is  displayed  and  the  greater  part  of  it 
sold.  The  style  of  the  firm  at  this  time  is  Dudenhofer,  Daniels  & 
Company,  the  rating  being  first-class  and  the  reputation  in  business 
circles  comparing  favorably  with  that  of  any  other  manufacturing 
concern  in  the  city. 

The  Olds  Wagon  Works. — The  excellence  of  the  Olds  wagon 
and  its  high  reputation  among  farmers,  trustees  and  others  have 
created  for  it  a  demand  which  the  makers  find  difficult  to  supply, 
in  consequence  of  which  an  enlargement  of  the  plant's  facilities  is 
being  favorably  discussed.  The  Olds  Wagon  Company  occupies 
a  large  four-story  brick  building,  sixty  by  one  hundred  and  twelve 
feet  in  area,  with  blacksmith  shop  seventy-five  by  one  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  ground  space,  on  the  south  side  of  Murray,  between  Cal- 
houn and  Lafayette  streets,  the  plant  including  extensive  sheds,  dry 
houses,  etc.,  taking  up  the  entire  square,  and  constituting  one  of  the 
most  important  establishments  of  the  kind  in  northern  Indiana.  The 
company  was  incorporated  in  1882,  with  a  capital  stock  of  two  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars,  and  since  that  time  the  business  has  been  con- 


186  THE    MAUMEE   RIVER     BASIN. 

ducted  under  able  management,  the  history  of  the  concern  presenting 
a  series  of  successes  which  speak  well  for  its  past  and  afford  the  best 
assurance  of  its  continued  prosperity  in  the  future.  Firmly 
established,  financially  strong  and  in  the  hands  of  men  of  sound 
judgment  and  wide  business  experience,  the  company  enjoys  dis- 
tinctive prestige  among  the  leading  industrial  establishments  of  the 
city,  the  daily  output  averaging  from  forty-five  to  fifty  vehicles, 
which  in  the  points  of  material,  excellency  of  workmanship  and 
durability,  will  compare  favorably  with  the  product  of  other  and 
much  more  pretentious  plants,  W.  H.  Olds  is  vice-president  and 
treasurer  of  the  concern,  and  N.  G.  Olds,  secretary,  both  gentlemen 
standing  high  in  business  circles  and  as  citizens  enjoying  honorable 
prestige  among  the  most  intelligent  and  enterprising  of  their  con- 
temporaries. 

There  are  in  the  city  several  other  establishments  for  the  manu- 
facture of  wagons,  carriages,  buggies,  etc.,  notable  among  which 
is  the  Wayne  Buggy  Company,  whose  works,  at  Nos.  218-220  East 
Columbia  street,  are  well  patronized  locally  and  by  the  general  trade, 
the  concern  being  in  the  hands  of  capable,  conservative  business  men 
who  have  made  their  influence  felt  in  the  circles  with  which  they  deal. 

The  Eclipse  Buggy  Company,  at  the  corner  of  Nelson  and  Wall 
streets,  does  a  safe  and  eminently  satisfactory  business,  the  vehicles 
turned  out  of  this  establishment  competing  with  the  best  on  the 
market,  the  reputation  of  the  firm  for  fair  and  honorable  dealing 
being  above  suspicion,  and  losing  nothing  when  compared  with  other 
concerns  of  a  like  character. 

L.  C.  Zollinger  &  Brother  conduct  a  large  establishment  on  East 
Superior  street,  in  which  are  manufactured  several  grades  of  buggies 
and  carriages,  especial  attention  being  devoted  to  delivery  wagons 
and  trucks,  in  the  making  of  which  the  firm  has  earned  a  high 
reputation,  as  is  attested  by  the  demand  for  their  output,  not  only 
in  Fort  Wayne,  but  in  various  other  towns  and  cities  of  Indiana. 

B.  H.  Baker  operates  a  wagon  and  carriage  shop  at  Nos.  614-616 
Lafayette  street  and  commands  an  extensive  and  lucrative  patronage. 
He  employs  skilled  workmen,  takes  pride  in  the  success  which  he 
has  achieved  and,  like  his  fellow  craftsmen,  has  been  untiring  in 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  187 

his  efforts  to  promote  the  city's  welfare  while  advancing  his  own 
interests. 

Another  establishment  devoted  to  the  manufacture  of  wagons 
and  other  wheeled  vehicles  is  that  of  Chauvey  Brothers,  at  No.  135 
East  Superior  street,  which  has  been  in  operation  for  some  years 
and  which  has  steadily  forged  to  the  front  by  reason  of  the  energy 
of  the  proprietors  and  the  high  grade  of  their  product.  Reliable  in 
all  the  term  implies,  financially  well  established  and  with  honorable 
dealing  as  one  of  their  objects,  these  gentlemen  have  won  a  large 
place  in  the  confidence  of  their  patrons  and  the  public  and  bid  fair 
to  build  up  a  large  and  flourishing  business  in  the  no  distant  future. 
Not  the  least  among  the  enterprising  wagon  and  carriage  makers  of 
Fort  Wayne  is  Charles  Ehrman,  whose  works,  at  the  corner  of  West 
Main  and  Fulton  streets,  is  one  of  the  well  known  establishments 
of  the  kind  in  the  city,  and  his  business  already  large,  is  steadily 
growing  in  magnitude  and  importance,  promising  to  rival  that  of 
some  of  his  more  pretentious  competitors  before  the  lapse  of  many 
years.  Familiar  with  every  detail  of  the  trade  which  he  so  success- 
fully carries  on,  a  thorough  business  man  whose  workmanship  is  his 
best  advertisement,  he  has  done  well  his  part  in  building  up  a 
lucrative  industry  and  the  city  is  proud  to  number  him  among  its 
enterprising  men. 

C.  I.  Flack  carries  on  a  prosperous  business  in  the  manufacture 
of  wheeled  vehicles  at  No.  2003  Calhoun  street,  where  he  has  a  well 
equipped  establishment  in  which  a  number  of  men  are  employed. 

Others  engaged  in  this  line  of  manufacture  at  the  present  time 
are  C.  H.  Koenig,  J.  A.  Spereisen  and  Andrew  Vogely,  all  of  whom 
are  well  situated  and  command  their  respective  shares  of  the  trade. 

FORT  WAYNE  SPOKE  AND  BENDING  COMPANY. 

Another  wood-working  concern  whose  product  is  indicated  by 
the  style  of  the  firm  is  a  reorganization  of  an  older  enterprise,  its 
history  under  the  present  management  dating  from  January,  1905. 
The  plant,  including  buildings,  sheds  and  yard,  covers  an  area  of 
about  five  acres  on  Walton  avenue,  the  main  building  being  a  sub- 
stantial brick  structure  in  which  is  manufactured  all  kinds  of  spokes 


1 88  THE    MAUMEE   RIVER     BASIN. 

and  buggy  bows,  about  fifty  men  being  employed,  many  of  them 
skilled  artisans  who  command  very  liberal  wages.  The  product  of 
this  establishment  is  sold  to  wagon  and  carriage  manufacturers  and 
wheel  makers  in  many  states  of  the  Union,  in  addition  to  which  the 
company  has  built  up  a  large  export  trade,  principally  in  spokes,  the 
business  of  the  firm  amounting  to  considerably  over  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars  every  year.  The  encouraging  progress  of  this 
enterprise  has  won  for  it  a  solid  standing  in  industrial  circles,  and, 
under  the  management  of  capable,  far-sighted  business  men,  its 
future  prosperity  seems  assured.  B.  F.  Scheie  is  president;  W.  A. 
DifTenderfer,  secretary  and  treasurer,  and  Victor  Sallot,  super- 
intendent. 

The  universal  use  of  the  wooden  pulley  as  applied  in  mills  and 
factories,  indeed  by  nearly  every  kind  of  machinery,  renders  imper- 
ative a  heavy  production  of  these  wheels ;  accordingly,  in  many  cities 
their  manufacture  has  become  a  large  and  very  important  industry. 
One  of  the  leading  concerns  in  Indiana  for  the  making  of  all  kinds 
of  pulleys  is  the 

PAUL    MANUFACTURING   COMPANY, 

of  Fort  Wayne,  which  was  incorporated  in  the  year  1892,  with  a 
capital  of  twenty-two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars,  and  which  has 
since  gradually  enlarged  its  facilities  and  extended  its  business,  until 
it  now  commands  a  large  local  and  general  patronage,  supplying 
many  of  the  leading  establishments  of  the  city  with  pulleys,  also 
shipping  them  in  immense  numbers  to  different  manufacturers  in 
other  places.  While  making  a  specialty  of  pulleys,  the  firm  produces 
various  other  articles,  its  success  in  the  different  lines  of  work  being 
commensurate  with  the  demand,  and  the  excellence  of  its  every  prod- 
uct giving  the  firm  the  high  reputation  it  has  long  enjoyed.  The 
plant,  which  is  substantially  constructed  and  well  equipped,  is  located 
at  the  intersection  of  Sixth  and  Calhoun  streets,  the  officers  at  the 
present  time  being  as  follows :  H.  C.  Paul,  president ;  H.  W.  Lep- 
per,  secretary,  and  Charles  A.  Paul,  treasurer. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  189 

LOUIS  RASTETTER  &  SON. 

This  firm,  which  was  established  in  the  year  1882,  is  engaged  in 
the  manufacture  of  buggy  bows,  carriage  material,  wood  rims  for 
bicycles  and  automobiles,  making  a  specialty  of  all  kinds  of  bent 
woodwork,  besides  doing  an  extensive  business  in  making  steering 
wheels  for  automobiles,  auto  tops  and  wheels  for  artillery,  the  plant 
being  the  largest  and  most  successful  of  the  kind  in  northern  Indi- 
ana. Formerly  considerable  attention  was  devoted  to  the  manufac- 
ture of  sporting  goods,  such  as  racquet  and  baseball  bats  and  many 
other  articles,  the  factory  for  several  years  having  been  the  chief 
source  from  which  A.  G.  Spalding  &  Sons,  of  Chicago,  obtained  their 
supplies,  but  recently  this  line  of  work  was  abandoned  for  the  more 
lucrative  business  indicated  above. 

The  first  factory,  a  two-story  brick  building,  with  about  five 
thousand  square  feet  of  floor  space,  was  erected  in  1882,  but  as  the 
business  increased  it  was  soon  found  necessary  to  provide  more  com- 
modious quarters;  accordingly,  in  1888,  the  plant  was  considerably 
enlarged,  the  improvement  furnishing  sufficient  capacity  during  the 
seven  years  ensuing.  At  the  expiration  of  the  time  indicated  the 
growth  of  the  concern  was  such  as  to  render  imperative  another  en- 
largement, which  was  done  in  1895,  since  which  time  various  other 
improvements  have  been  added  to  the  plant  until  it  now  covers  an 
area  of  two  acres,  being  two  stories  high,  well  lighted  and  ventilated 
and  a  substantial  and  imposing  specimen  of  architecture.  The  rapid 
strides  in  the  business  during  the  last  twenty  years  has  won  for  the 
firm  a  permanent  place  among  the  progressive  industries  of  Fort 
Wayne,  and  being  in  the  hands  of  intelligent,  wide-awake  men  of 
sound  judgment,  wise  discretion  and  superior  executive  ability,  its 
past  success  may  be  accepted  as  an  earnest  of  its  continuous  ad- 
vancement in  the  future.  The  establishment  is  owned  and  controlled 
by  Louis  Rastetter  and  his  son,  W.  C,  the  former  being  president 
and  the  latter  superintendent  and  general  manager. 

In  addition  to  an  extensive  domestic  trade,  which  includes  nearly 
every  state  in  the  Union,  the  firm  also  has  a  large  and  constantly 
growing  foreign  patronage,  the  popularity  of  their  products  finding 
for  them  a  ready  sale  in  many  of  the  leading  cities  of  England  and 


190  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER     BASIN, 

other  countries  of  Europe.  The  plant  affords  remunerative  employ- 
ment to  an  average  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  men,  the  majority  of 
whom  reside  in  the  vicinity  and  own  the  homes  they  occupy. 

FORT   WAYNE  WINDMILL   COMPANY. 

Conspicuous  among  the  enterprises  of  Fort  Wayne  is  the  windmill 
industry,  which,  despite  its  recent  origin,  has  passed  through  many 
important  developments  and  forged  rapidly  to  the  front  as  one  of 
the  city's  important  manufacturing  concerns.  This  company  was  in- 
corporated in  1903,  and  continued  to  operate  under  the  original 
management  until  July,  1905,  when  a  reorganization  took  place, 
with  the  following  gentlemen  as  officials :  President,  Charles  Pape, 
Sr. ;  vice-president,  W.  E.  Mossman;  treasurer,  E.  F.  Yarnelle;  sec- 
retary, W.  A.  Stockman;  manager,  George  W.  Graham. 

The  establishment  is  located  on  High  street,  and  since  its  organ- 
ization the  company  has  entered  upon  an  area  of  prosperity  which 
augurs  well  for  the  future.  The  mills  made  by  this  company  gained 
popularity  from  the  beginning,  but  with  valuable  improvements  re- 
cently introduced  and  the  facilities  for  the  manufacture  greatly  en- 
larged, the  serviceableness  of  the  product  has  been  much  increased, 
while  the  business  has  steadily  grown  until  the  company  is  now  en- 
abled to  pay  liberal  dividends  to  the  stockholders. 

The  Fort  Wayne  windmills  are  manufactured  under  patents 
owned  by  Charles  Pape,  and  in  point  of  durability  and  construction 
are  pronounced  by  capable  judges  to  be  equal  to  the  best  mills  on 
the  market  and  far  superior  to  the  majority.  One  of  their  distinctive 
features  is  that  the  gearing  is  completely  enclosed  and  sheltered  from 
the  elements,  and  that  it  allows  of  a  direct  pull  on  the  up  stroke  of 
the  pump,  while  an  automatic  appliance  throws  the  mill  out  of  gear 
when  the  tank  is  full  and  puts  it  in  operation  as  soon  as  the  supply 
is  depleted  below  the  point  desired.  Not  the  least  interesting  of  the 
several  features  of  the  factory  is  the  galvanizing  department,  which 
is  not  only  used  for  preparing  the  products  of  the  plant,  but  iron  and 
steel  are  here  galvanized  for  several  other  concerns  in  the  city.  The 
iron  or  steel  is  first  immersed  in  a  huge  tank  of  sulphuric  acid,  where 
all  the  rust  and  corrosion  are  removed,  after  which  it  passed  through 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  191 

a  similar  tank  of  muriatic  acid  and  is  then  dipped  into  the  galvaniz- 
ing solution,  composed  of  zinc  compounded  and  heated  to  a  liquid 
state.  The  metal  tank  is  heated  by  gas  from  the  producer  that  sup- 
plies the  engine ;  it  holds  about  twenty  tons  of  molten  metal,  and  the 
cost  to  charge  it  amounts  to  the  sum  of  twenty-five  hundred  dollars. 

In  addition  to  the  manufacturing  of  windmills,  the  company  does 
a  large  jobbing  business  in  pumps,  and  at  this  time  arrangements 
are  being  perfected  for  the  construction  of  a  foundry  in  which  to 
make  all  the  castings  needed,  also  for  the  manufacture  of  a  high- 
grade  iron  pump,  for  which  the  firm  owns  the  patent. 

The  factory  quarters  are  large,  roomy  and  admirably  adapted 
to  the  purposes  for  which  designed,  the  machine  shops  being  well 
equipped,  while  in  the  apartment  above  samples  of  the  finished  prod- 
uct are  kept  on  exhibition.  The  machinery  is  operated  by  a  fifty- 
horse-power  gas  engine  supplied  with  gas  from  a  producer  in  the  fac- 
tory, being  the  only  plant  in  Indiana  in  which  gas  is  produced  from 
oil.  As  already  stated,  the  business  of  the  company  has  made  rapid 
strides  during  the  past  few  months,  and  when  all  the  improvements 
contemplated  are  installed  it  will  easily  out-distance  any  establish- 
ment of  the  kind  in  the  country. 

THE   PACKARD    COMPANY. 

Standing  in  the  front  ranks  of  Fort  Wayne's  manufacturing  es- 
tablishments is  the  Packard  Company,  formerly  the  Fort  Wayne 
Organ  Company,  whose  history  of  over  a  third  of  a  century  has 
been  replete  with  continuous  triumphs  and  brilliant  successes.  The 
products  of  this  company  have  won  recognition  the  world  over,  and 
it  may  safely  be  stated  that  in  our  own  land  there  is  today  no  like 
concern  whose  popularity  is  as  great  or  whose  success  has  been  more 
marked. 

The  history  of  this  enterprise  dates  from  the  year  1871,  at  which 
time  a  company  for  the  manufacture  of  musical  instruments  was  es- 
tablished, consisting  of  the  following  business  men:  J.  A.  Fay, 
Charles  McCulloch,  Oscar  Simons,  C.  L.  Hill,  C.  D.  Bond,  J.  H. 
Bass  and  S.  B.  Bond,  who  organized  with  a  capital  stock  of  twenty- 
four  thousand  dollars,  and  at  once  proceeded  to  carry  out  the  pur- 


192  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER     BASIN. 

poses  of  the  enterprise.  L.  M.  Ninde  served  as  president  until  1873, 
when  he  was  succeeded  by  S.  B.  Bond,  under  whose  able  and  judi- 
cious management  the  company  has  achieved  its  almost  unprecedent- 
ed success  and  who  still  continues  the  executive  head  of  the  concern. 

Although  established  for  the  manufacture  of  various  kinds  of 
musical  instruments,  the  company  make  a  specialty  of  organs,  whose 
superior  workmanship,  durability  and  correctness  of  pitch  soon 
gained  for  them  wide  popularity,  the  result  being  a  large  domestic 
trade,  and  in  due  time  a  liberal  patronage  from  the  different  coun- 
tries of  Europe.  Business  was  carried  on  under  the  original  style 
of  the  firm  until  1895,  when  the  name  was  changed  to  the  Packard 
Company,  by  which  it  has  since  been  known.  The  manufacture  of 
the  celebrated  Packard  piano  began  in  the  latter  year,  the  demand  for 
which  since  that  time  has  been  so  great  as  to  tax  the  factory  to  its 
utmost  capacity,  the  number  of  these  superb  instruments  turned  out 
every  year  amounting  to  considerable  in  excess  of  twenty-five  hun- 
dred, more  than  one  thousand  of  which  are  to  be  found  in  the  homes 
of  Fort  Wayne  alone. 

The  manifest  superiority  of  the  Packard  organ  has  led  to  such  a 
steady  growth  in  its  manufacture  that  the  annual  output  at  this  time 
amounts  to  over  four  thousand,  the  prospects  of  continuous  increase 
in  this  branch  of  the  business  being  most  encouraging.  The  organs 
include  all  kinds  and  grades,  from  the  smaller  instruments  for  parlor 
use  to  the  superb  church  organ,  hundreds  of  which  have  been  placed 
in  the  leading  churches  and  cathedrals  of  the  United  States  and  Can- 
ada. 

In  this  connection  we  quote  the  following  tribute  to  the  Packard 
instruments,  which  all  who  read  will  pronounce  merited  and  proper : 
"It  is  believed  that  there  is  no  country  in  the  world  inhabited  by  civ- 
ilized beings  that  has  not  heard  the  strains  of  the  Packard  organ, 
manufactured  in  Fort  Wayne.  There  is  one  in  the  boudoir  of  the 
Empress  of  Germany,  and  they  are  sold  by  the  foremost  music  houses 
of  London,  England.  The  great  firm  of  Steinway  &  Sons  are  proud 
to  be  counted  agents  of  this  superior  instrument.  George  W.  Mor- 
gan, S.  B.  Mills,  Clarence  Eddy,  Harrison  M.  Wild,  George  F. 
Root,  Albert  Ross  Parsons,  S.  N.  Penfield,  Ad  Neuendorf  and  other 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  193 

renowned  organists  have  vied  one  with  the  other  in  terms  of  praise 
over  its  superlative  merits." 

The  first  building1  used  by  the;  company  contained  about  sixteen 
hundred  square  feet  of  space,  and  the  business  was  inaugurated  in  a 
very  modest  way.  The  series  of  continued  successes  which  have 
characterized  its  progress  stamps  the  concern  as  one  of  the  leading 
enterprises  of  the  city,  the  present  factory  being  an  immense  brick 
edifice  with  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  square  feet  of  floor 
space,  while  the  business  represents  over  three-fourths  of  a  million 
dollars  annually. 

The  stock  of  the  company  is  now  owned  by  J.  H.  Bass  and  S.  B. 
Bond,  the  latter,  as  already  stated,  being  president,  and  Albert  Bond, 
secretary  of  the  company. 

PETERS   BOX    AND  LUMBER   COMPANY. 

Among  the  old  and  well  established  industries  of  the  city  is  the 
Peters  Box  and  Lumber  Company,  which  was  organized  in  1870  by 
John  C.  Peters,  and  incorporated  on  November  26,  1873,  by  J-  C. 
Peters,  Charles  Pape  and  Joseph  Schaffer,  the  capital  subscribed 
amounting  to  the  sum  of  fifty-five  thousand  dollars.  For  some  time 
the  principal  product  was  boxes  of  various  kinds,  but  later  the  manu- 
facture of  furniture  was  added,  a  specialty  being  made  of  quartered 
oak  of  the  finest  grades,  in  which  the  company  successfully  competed 
with  the  larger  concerns  of  Michigan  and  other  states.  The  plant, 
which  occupies  lots  79  and  112,  High  street,  consists  of  four  floors, 
each  fifty  by  one  hundred  feet,  two  forty  by  seventy  feet,  and  one 
whose  dimensions  are  forty  by  sixty  feet,  the  establishment  through- 
out being  supplied  with  the  finest  productions  of  modern  invention 
for  the  manufacture  of  the  different  articles  which  constitute  the  out- 
put. 

During  the  years  of  its  greatest  prosperity  the  establishment  af- 
forded employment  at  liberal  wages  to  an  average  of  about  seventy- 
five  men,  and  in  addition  to  supplying  the  local  demand,  the  product 
was  shipped  extensively  throughout  Indiana,  Ohio  and  other  central 
and  western  states,  also  to  various  cities  in  the  eastern  part  of  the 
Union,  besides  a  large  export  trade  which  the  proprietors  built  up 

13 


194  THE    MAUMEE   RIVER     BASIN. 

with  London  and  other  points  in  England  and  Scotland.  While 
somewhat  changed  from  its  former  lines  of  manufacture,  the  com- 
pany, as  already  indicated,  is  still  one  of  the  permanent  establish- 
ments of  the  city,  being  under  the  management  of  men  of  high 
standing  and  fine  business  ability,  whose  names  are  a  guarantee  of 
its  present  and  future  success.  The  officials  of  the  enterprise  at  this 
time  are  Charles  Pape,  president  and  general  manager,  and  Charles 
G.  Pape,  secretary  and  treasurer. 

Another  firm  that  does  a  thriving  business  in  the  dressing  of 
lumber  and  the  manufacture  of  sash,  doors,  blinds  and  other  build- 
ing material,  is  the  Diether  Lumber  Company,  whose  large  plant, 
occupying  lots  208  and  218,  East  Superior  street,  is  equipped  with 
everything  in  the  way  of  machinery  and  devices  for  the  successful 
prosecution  of  an  enterprise  of  the  magnitude  to  which  their  works 
have  grown. 

Interested  in  the  same  kind  of  industry  are  the  Hoffman  Broth- 
ers, who  have  a  well  located  and  thoroughly  equipped  planing  mill 
and  auxiliary  shops  at  No.  800  West  Main  street,  where  they  man- 
ufacture everything  in  their  line  with  neatness  and  dispatch,  keep- 
ing on  hand  a  large  and  varied  stock  of  lumber  and  building  mate- 
rial, besides  doing  an  extensive  custom  business,  their  patronage  tak- 
ing a  large  range  in  both  city  and  country.  Several  other  parties 
and  firms  are  engaged  in  this  line  of  industry,  the  amount  of  build- 
ing in  Fort  Wayne  making  the  business  very  profitable. 

The  White  Wheel  Works,  formerly  one  of  the  city's  most  im- 
portant industrial  enterprises,  as  well  as  one  of  the  leading  establish- 
ments of  the  kind  in  the  country,  was  founded  in  1872  by  Hon. 
James  B.  White,  for  many  years  a  prominent  citizen  of  Fort  Wayne 
and  a  man  of  state  and  national  repute  in  military  and  political  cir- 
cles, having  served  as  captain  in  the  late  Rebellion,  besides  repre- 
senting with  distinction  the  twelfth  Indiana  district  in  congress. 
Associated  with  Mr.  White  was  his  son,  John  W.  White,  the  two 
putting  into  the  enterprise  the  sum  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
capital  sufficient  to  insure  its  success,  as  is  attested  by  the  value  of 
the  output,  which  for  a  number  of  years  amounted  to  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars  annually.  While  in  successful  operation 
these  works  gave  employment  to  one  hundred  and  thirty  men  every 


ALLEN  COUNTY,  INDIANA.  195 

working  day  of  the  year,  the  pay  roll  running  as  high  as  four  thou- 
sand dollars  per  month,  while  considerable  in  excess  of  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars  was  annually  expended  for  raw  material.  The  White 
works  added  much  to  the  city's  reputation  as  a  business  point,  and 
contributed  not  a  little  to  its  material  prosperity,  nearly  all  of  the 
large  sums  paid  for  labor  and  material  finding  its  way  into  the  local 
channels  of  trade.  After  enjoying  a  number  of  years  of  prosperity 
the  proprietors  finally  closed  out  the  business,  disposed  of  the  plant 
and  turned  their  attention  to  other  lines  of  activity. 

THE  BOX  INDUSTRY. 

The  Fort  Wayne  Box  Company,  whose  handsome  and  spacious 
two-story  brick  building  on  the  corner  of  East  Superior  and  South 
Calhoun  streets,  is  devoted  to  the  manufacture  of  all  kinds  and 
grades  of  paper  boxes,  is  one  of  the  growing  enterprises  of  the  city, 
the  establishment  being  thoroughly  equipped  and  affording  employ- 
ment to  a  large  force  of  workmen,  and  the  business  has  advanced  to 
an  important  place  among  the  industrial  interests  of  this  section  of 
the  state.  The  plant,  which  is  an  imposing  edifice  and  complete  in 
all  of  its  parts,  represents  a  capital  of  seven  thousand  dollars,  while 
the  quality  of  the  production  has  gained  an  extensive  patronage  and 
won  for  the  company  a  high  standing  in  business  circles.  Several 
other  parties  are  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  boxes  of  different 
kinds,  both  paper  and  wood,  and  the  industry,  already  large,  promises 
to  become  much  more  extensive,  the  locating  of  manufacturing 
plants  requiring  boxes  for  the  packing  and  shipment  of  their  product 
being  of  frequent  occurrence. 

OLDS  WHEEL  WORKS. 

Few  industries  of  Fort  Wayne  are  as  well  known  or  have  given 
the  city  such  wide  publicity  as  the  Olds  Wheel  Works,  the  history  of 
which  dates  from  1861,  when  Noble  G.  Olds  established  the  enter- 
prise and  continued  as  its  head  and  manager  until  his  death,  in  April, 
1876.  After  his  death  it  was  conducted  as  a  partnership  until  1882, 
when  the  firm  was  incorporated  under  the  name  of  N.  G.  Olds  & 


196  THE    MAUMEE   RIVER     BASIN. 

Company,  with  a  capital  stock  of  four  hundred  thousand  dollars,  the 
officers  at  that  time  being  Henry  G.  Olds,  president;  John  D.  Olds, 
vice-president ;  Joseph  Henry  Wilder,  secretary,  and  Thomas  C.  Rog- 
ers, treasurer. 

The  plant,  which  was  established  at  the  southeast  corner  of  La- 
fayette street  and  the  Wabash  Railroad,  covered  nearly  ten  acres  of 
ground,  the  buildings  consisting  of  a  series  of  brick  and  wooden 
structures,  with  sheds  of  large  dimensions,  the  machinery  being  op- 
erated by  a  six-hundred-horse-power  engine,  while  a  force  of  from 
four  hundred  to  five  hundred  workmen  were  required  to  keep  the 
works  in  operation  during  the  years  when  the  demand  for  the  prod- 
uct was  greatest.  The  record  of  the  establishment  shows  that  for  a 
number  of  years  the  annual  output  averaged  ninety  thousand  sets  of 
wheels,  which  were  shipped  to  nearly  every  state  in  the  Union,  many 
wagon  and  carriage  factories  relying  upon  the  Fort  Wayne  plant 
for  their  supply.  In  addition  to  the  making  of  wheels,  in  which  the 
plant  excelled  any  other  in  the  United  States,  there  was  made  and 
sold  every  year  the  enormous  number  of  seven  million  spokes,  be- 
sides one  million  five  hundred  thousands  strips  for  felloes,  and  up- 
ward of  a  half  million  hub  blocks.  In  the  manufacture  of  this  im- 
mense product  vast  quantities  of  timber  were  required,  much  of 
which  was  unloaded  from  wagons  at  the  works,  the  rest  being 
brought  by  rail,  the  number  of  cars  averaging  from  twenty-five  hun- 
dred to  three  thousand  every  year.  When  in  full  operation  the 
monthly  pay-roll  amounted  to  over  sixteen  thousand  dollars,  which, 
with  the  large  sums  expended  for  raw  material,  proved  of  great  ben- 
efit to  the  local  business  houses  of  the  city,  many  of  which  derived 
their  chief  support  from  employees  of  the  establishment. 

For  reasons  which  need  not  be  discussed  in  this  connection,  the 
business  of  this  once  mammoth  concern  has  gradually  subsided,  and 
although  still  in  operation  this  product  has  been  greatly  modified 
and  the  patronage  confined  to  an  entirely  different  class  of  trades- 
men. 

COOPERAGE. 

Among  the  industrial  interests  of  Fort  Wayne  which  has 
been  represented  in  the  city  from  quite  an  early  day,  and  which 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  197 

since  the  adoption  of  new  machinery  and  improved  methods  of  man- 
ufacture has  advanced  to  a  position  in  line  with  a  number  of  other 
interests,  is  the  cooperage  business,  in  which  several  firms  are  en- 
gaged and  many  thousand  dollars  invested.  The  making  of  barrels 
by  the  old  hand  process,  which  in  the  early  times  afforded  remunera- 
tive employment  in  nearly  every  city,  town,  village  and  cross-road 
hamlet  in  the  land,  long  ago  became  obsolete,  the  new  process  by 
machinery,  made  especially  for  the  purpose,  supplanting  it  to  the 
detriment  no  doubt  of  many  an  honest  mechanic's  livelihood,  but  to 
the  increase  in  production  and  decrease  in  cost. 

The  Fort  Wayne  Cooperage  Company  conducts  a  very  success- 
ful business  in  the  manufacture  and  handling  of  all  kinds  of  cooper- 
age material,  operating  an  extensive  plant  and  shipping  their  output 
to  many  points  in  Indiana  and  other  states,  besides  supplying  such 
local  firms  as  have  use  for  this  kind  of  merchandise.  S.  D.  Bitler  is 
also  engaged  in  the  same  line  of  manufacture,  with  encouraging 
financial  results,  and  has  built  up  quite  a  large  business,  which  is 
constantly  being  extended. 

The  largest  and  most  successful  enterprise  coming  under  this 
head,  however,  and  one  which  has  made  rapid  strides  since  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  plant  a  few  years  ago,  is  the  Noble  Machine  Com- 
pany, whose  history  is  briefly  outlined  as  follows : 

NOBLE   MACHINE   COMPANY. 

One  of  the  most  recent  of  Fort  Wayne's  manufacturing  enter- 
prises, but  one  that  is  rapidly  gaining  a  prominent  place  among  the 
city's  leading  industries,  was  established  in  the  year  1889,  by  W.  K. 
Noble,  who  began  business  in  a  modest  way  on  Harrison  street,  his 
object  being  the  manufacture  of  cooperage  machinery,  for  which 
there  was  a  wide  and  growing  demand  from  the  timbered  sections  of 
Indiana  and  neighboring  states.  Being  a  new  enterprise  and  in  a 
field  without  competition,  Mr.  Noble's  business  prospered  from  the 
beginning,  and  so  rapidly  grew  the  demand  for  his  product  that 
before  the  end  of  the  second  year  he  found  it  necessary  to  enlarge 
his  facilities;  accordingly,  in  1897  ne  erected  the  commodious  brick 
building  on  Hayden  street,  in  the  southeastern  part  of  the  city,  where 


198  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER     BASIN. 

he  has  since  conducted  operations  upon  a  much  more  extensive  and 
successful  scale.  The  building,  which  is  not  only  a  credit  to  the  en- 
terprise of  the  proprietor,  but  a  valuable  addition  to  the  substantial 
improvements  of  Fort  Wayne,  is  fifty  by  two  hundred  feet  in  area, 
two  stories  high,  handsomely  furnished  and  equipped  with  the  latest 
improved  machinery  for  the  manufacture  of  all  kinds  of. machinery 
used  in  the  making  of  staves,  heading  hoops,  etc.,  not  a  few  of  the 
improvements  in  this  line  of  work  being  Mr.  Noble's  invention.  From 
fifty  to  sixty  men  are  required  to  operate  the  Fort  Wayne  plant,  in 
addition  to  which  the  proprietors  do  an  extensive  cooperage  business 
outside  the  city,  owning  mills  at  Baldwin,  Mummaville,  Conway, 
Sheldon,  Ohio  City  and  other  places  in  Ohio  and  Indiana,  all  of 
which  are  managed  from  the  office  in  this  city. 

Associated  with  Mr.  Noble  in  his  brother,  C.  E.  Noble,  who,  like 
the  former,  is  an  intelligent,  wide-awake  business  man,  much  of  the 
outside  management  falling  to  him,  the  general  oversight  of  the  en- 
terprise being  largely  in  the  hands  of  the  original  proprietor. 

FURNITURE. 

The  manufacture  of  furniture  has  long  been  a  prominent  indus- 
try in  Fort  Wayne,  and  from  quite  an  early  day  men  of  enterprise 
and  ability  have  been  identified  with  the  business,  some  of  them 
meeting  with  success,  others  not  being  so  fortunate.  At  the  present 
time  there  are  several  establishments  of  this  kind,  the  most  import- 
ant perhaps  being  the  Fort  Wayne  Furniture  Works,  at  Nos.  213-215 
West  Main  street,  of  which  Edward  Helmke,  Jr.,  is  proprietor  and 
manager,  and  in  which  special  attention  is  devoted  to  the  manufac- 
ture of  showcases,  office  and  store  fixtures,  after  designs  and  pat- 
ents owned  by  the  proprietor,  in  addition  to  which  quite  an  exten- 
sive business  is  conducted  in  the  making  of  special  high-grade  fur- 
niture to  order.  The  enterprise  is  well  established,  the  patronage 
liberal  and  all  articles  turned  out  of  the  factory  are  of  artistic  de- 
sign and  superior  workmanship.  There  are  other  establishments  in 
the  city  where  furniture  is  both  made  and  repaired,  and  in  which 
skillful  workmen,  commanding  remunerative  wages,  are  employed, 
the  capital  invested  being  considerable  and  the  amount  of  business 
running  far  up  into  the  thousands  every  year. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  199 

i 

Perhaps  the  largest  and  most  successful  manufacturer  of  furni- 
ture in  the  past  was  D.  N.  Foster,  whose  establishment  on  East  Co- 
lumbia street,  was  one  of  the  best  known  places  in  the  city,  as  well 
as  a  distributing  point  for  various  wholesale  and  retail  establish- 
ments under  the  same  management,  at  Lafayette  and  Terre  Haute, 
Indiana,  and  Jackson,  Michigan,  and  other  points.  For  a  number  of 
years  Mr.  Foster  made  a  specialty  of  the  celebrated  Brunswick  fold- 
ing bed,  which  had  an  extensive  sale  throughout  Indiana  and  ad- 
joining states,  and  he  was  also  quite  successful  in  the  manufacture 
of  the  better  grades  of  furniture,  besides  commanding  a  large  and 
lucrative  trade  in  church  furniture,  having  purchased  the  Auburn 
Church  Furniture  Factory  and  merged  it  into  his  Fort  Wayne  plant. 
Later  he  gradually  withdrew  from  manufacturing,  to  devote  his  at- 
tention to  the  retailing  of  furniture,  which  line  of  business  he  still 
carries  on,  having  at  this  time  the  largest  and  best  stocked  house  of 
the  kind  in  the  city. 

The  Pape  Furniture  Company  was  also  a  leading  establishment 
of  the  kind  a  few  years  ago,  and  won  an  excellent  reputation  for  the 
high  character  of  the  output,  which  consisted  of  all  kinds  of  house- 
hold and  office  furniture,  the  factory,  which  was  located  on  the 
North  Side,  being  under  the  direction  of  a  mechanic  of  superior  skill, 
while  none  but  the  best  of  workmen  were  employed.  Within  a  few 
years  after  starting  the  business  grew  to  large  magnitude,  the  name 
of  the  firm  became  widely  and  favorably  known,  and  during  the  pe- 
riod of  its  greatest  activity  ranked  with  the  leading  enterprises  of  the 
kind  in  the  state.  The  business  is  still  prosperous,  although  Mr. 
Pape,  the  head  of  the  company,  has)  of  late  been  devoting  the  greater 
part  of  his  attention  to  other  lines  of  manufacture. 

The  Fort  Wayne  Special  Furniture  Company,  with  works  at  No. 
608  Pearl  street,  is  a  flourishing  concern  that  does  a  large  and  grow- 
ing business  in  the  manufacture  of  specialties  in  the  furniture  line. 
the  management  being  in  capable  hands  and  the  outlook  encouraging. 
The  local  patronage  is  quite  liberal  and  the  proprietors  are  gradually 
building  up  a  large  general  trade,  shipping  their  product  to  a  num- 
ber of  cities  in  Indiana  and  other  states.  This  company,  which  was 
incorporated  in  1902,  with  a  capital  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  has 
been  under  the  management  of  capable  and  enterprising  business  men 


200  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER     BASIN. 

and  is  today  one  of  the  solid  manufacturing  concerns  of  the  city, 
N.  Keltsch  serving  as  president  and  H.  F.  Franke  as  secretary  and 
treasurer. 

THE   BREWING   INDUSTRY. 

From  quite  an  early  day  Fort  Wayne  has  been  noted  for  its 
large  and  important  business  in  the  manufacture  of  various  kinds  of 
beverages,  notably  that  of  malt  liquors,  the  brewing  of  which  has 
grown  into  an  industry  of  mammoth  proportions  and  earned  for  the 
product  a  wide  reputation  throughout  the  country.  Among  the  early 
breweries  was  the  one  established  in  1853-54  by  a  gentleman  by  the 
name  of  Phenning.  It  stood  on  the  east  side  of  Harrison  street, 
north  of  Wayne,  in  Hanna's  addition,  and  was  operated  by  the  orig- 
inal proprietor  until  his  death,  when  it  passed  into  the  hands  of 
George  Meier,  under  whose  management  the  business  was  conducted 
until  i860,  at  which  time  George  Haring  rented  the  property,  and 
two  years  later  became  its  owner.  In  1866  he  built  cellars,  etc.,  on 
Main  street,  west  of  Van  Buren,  and  in  1874  moved  all  the  brew- 
ing machinery  and  apparatus  into  a  large  brick  brewery  erected  on 
the  same  site,  and  did  a  thriving  business,  manufacturing  upon  an 
average  of  twenty-five  hundred  barrels  of  beer  every  year.  This 
enterprise  was  operated  until  a  comparatively  recent  date,  and  was 
long  the  leading  industry  of  the  kind  in  the  city. 

In.  1 85 6  F.  J.  Beck  engaged  in  the  brewing  business  on  the  south 
bank  of  the  feeder  dam,  erecting  a  suitable  building  which  was  well 
equipped  and  which  he  continued  to  operate  until  1869,  when  he  was 
succeeded  by  the  firm  of  Certia  &  Rankert,  the  establishment  the 
meantime  undergoing  many  important  improvements.  The  style 
of  the  firm  was  subsequently  changed  to  that  of  Rankert,  Lutz  & 
Company,  under  whose  management  a  large  and  successful  business 
was  carried  on  for  a  number  of  years. 

As  early  perhaps  as  1855,  Harman  A.  Nierman  built  a  brewery 
on  the  southwest  corner  of  Water  and  Harrison  streets,  which  was 
long  known  as  the  Stone  Brewery.  Mr.  Nierman  carried  on  the 
business  of  beer  making  until  his  death,  his  brother  Martin  becoming 
identified  with  the  industry  the  meantime.  The  enterprise  proved 
quite  successful  while  it  lasted,   representing  a  capital  of  twenty 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  201 

thousand  dollars,  and  using  every  year  thirty  thousand  bushels  of 
barley  and  twenty  thousand  pounds  of  hops,  its  product  being  noted 
for  its  high  grade  of  excellence.  The  building  was  subsequently 
sold  and  converted  into  bottling  works. 

While  the  different  establishments  referred  to  were  successfully 
conducted  and  did  a  fairly  prosperous  business  in  their  day,  it  was 
not  until  1864,  however,  that  the  manufacture  of  beer  attained  special 
prominence  and  took  its  place  among  the  leading  industries  of  the 
city. 

C.  L.  Centlivre,  an  intelligent  and  enterprising  Frenchman,  from 
the  Rhine  province  of  Alsace,  established  on  the  west  bank  of  St.  Jo- 
seph river,  about  one  and  a  half  miles  northeast  of  the  court  house, 
what  was  long  known  as  the  French  Brewery,  and  which  has  since 
become  one  of  the  largest  and  most  widely  known  enterprises  of  the 
kind  in  northern  Indiana.  Like  all  new  undertakings,  the  business 
began  in  a  small  way,  but  successfully  passing  through  the  various 
stages  of  growth  and  development,  it  was  not  long  until  it  obtained 
permanent  footing  and  forged  to  the  front  among  the  leading  brewer- 
ies of  the  state,  by  reason  of  the  high  grade  of  its  product  which 
early  gained  much  more  than  local  repute  in  commercial  circle. 

The  first  brewery,  a  frame  edifice,  was  built  on  a  strip  of  land 
between  the  river  and  the  canal  feeder,  the  difference  in  the  levels 
of  which  was  about  twenty  feet,  thus  insuring  a  constant  supply  of 
pure  flowing  water,  and  making  the  location  an  ideal  one  for  the 
purpose  to  which  it  was  devoted.  Within  a  few  years  the  business 
outgrew  the  original  building  and  made  necessary  larger  and  more 
convenient  quarters ;  accordingly,  a  fine  brick  structure  was  erected 
and  equipped,  with  greatly  improved  facilities  for  the  manufacture 
of  the  popular  beverage,  for  which  there  was  such  a  constantly  in- 
creasing demand.  The  latter  building  was  totally  destroyed  by  fire 
on  the  night  of  July  16,  1889,  the  bottling  works  and  boat  house  also 
falling  a  prey  to  the  devouring  element.  This  fire  entailed  a  very 
heavy  loss,  but  with  the  progressive  spirit  characteristic  of  the  pro- 
prietor, he  at  once  perfected  plans  for  rebuilding  on  a  still  larger 
scale,  and  in  due  time  the  present  splendid  brick  structure  was  com- 
pleted and  in  successful  operation.  In  the  matter  of  improvement  it 
greatly  exceeds  the  former  building,  is  much  better  adapted  to  the 


202  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER     BASIN. 

requirements  of  the  business,  and  with  subsequent  additions 
to  the  plant  and  the  enlargement  of  its  facilities,  it  is  now  conceded 
to  be  one  of  the!  best  equipped  and  most  successful  enterprises  of  the 
kind  in  the  west.  The  output  in  1887  was  twenty  thousand  barrels, 
but  the  capacity  since  then  has  been  so  largely  increased  that  many 
times  that  amount  are  now  annually  manufactured  and  sold,  the  pur- 
ity and  wholesomeness  of  the  favorite  brand  for  which  the  plant  is 
noted  having  created  a  demand  which  taxes  the  establishment  to  its 
utmost  to  supply.  To  facilitate  the  approaches  to  his  brewery,  Mr. 
Centlivre  spent  considerable  money  in  improving  the  streets,  besides 
investing  the  sum  of  nine  thousand  dollars  in  a  street  car  line  which 
connects  with  the  general  street  railway  system  of  the  city.  He  was 
also  a  leading  spirit  in  bringing  about  the  macadaming  to  Spy  Run 
avenue,  and  in  many  other  ways  displayed  commendable  energy  in 
advancing  the  general  improvement  of  the  city. 

For  a  number  of  years  Mr.  Centlivre' s  sons,  Louis  A.  and  Charles 
F.  were  associated  with  him  in  the  management  of  the  business, 
but  since  his  death  the  latter,  together  with  John  B.  Reuss, 
a  brother-in-law,  have  conducted  the  enterprise,  adding  every 
year  to  the  efficiency  of  the  plant  and  to  the  popularity  of  its  product. 
They  are  among  the  most  energetic  and  progressive  of  Fort  Wayne's 
men  of  affairs,  stand  high  in  business  circles,  and  as  proprietors  of  a 
large  and  growing  establishment  have  added  greatly  to  the  city's  high 
standing  as  an  important  industrial  center.  The  popular  brands  of 
beer  for  which  the  brewery  has  long  been  noted  and  for  which  there 
is  a  constantly  growing  demand,  are  the  Centlivre  Special,  the  Cent- 
livre Extra  Pale,  Muenchner,  Special  Export,  Nickle  Plate  Special, 
Muenchner  Export  and  the  justly  celebrated  Centlivre  Tonic. 

The  Berghoff  Brewing  Company,  being  the  largest  enterprise  of 
the  kind  in  Fort  Wayne,  with  a  reputation  more  than  state  wide, 
was  established  in  the  year  1887  by  Herman  Berghoff,  a  native  of 
Dortmunder,  Germany,  and  a  member  of  a  noted  family  of  brewers 
who  have  long  enjoyed  distinction  by  reason  of  their  skill  in  the  man- 
ufacture of  pure  and  wholesome  brands  of  beer.  Mr.  Berghoff  came 
to  Fort  Wayne  in  1870,  and  seventeen  years  later  organized  the  Her- 
man Berghoff  Brewing  Company,  which  was  incorporated  in  1887, 
with  a  paid-up  capital  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  Herman 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  203 

Berghoff  being  elected  president  and  Henry  C.  Berghoff,  vice-presi- 
dent and  secretary.  A  building  commensurate  with  the  designs  of 
the  company  was  soon  projected  and  completed,  but  on  August  22, 
1887,  before  operations  had  fairly  begun,  it  was  destroyed  by  fire, 
immediately  after  which  preparations  were  made  to  rebuild  on  a 
much  more  extensive  scale.  The  new  building,  a  handsome  brick 
structure,  one  hundred  by  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet  in  area,  and 
six  stories  high,  was  finished  in  due  time  and  equipped  throughout 
with  the  most  approved  appliances  for  the  manufacture  of  high 
grade  beer,  the  capacity  of  the  plant  at  the  time  of  its  completion 
being  one  hundred  thousand  barrels  a  year,  much  of  which  was  sold 
to  the  local  trade.  Since  then  the  facilities  of  the  plant  have  been 
greatly  increased,  and  in  addition  to  the  large  and  local  demand  the 
company  does  an  extensive  business  in  the  western  and  northwestern 
states,  besides  shipping  immense  quantities  of  beer  to  other  parts  of 
the  country.  The  special  brands  of  beer  which  have  gained 
wide  popularity,  and  for  which  there  has  always  been  a  steady  de- 
mand, are  the  Salvator  and  Dortmunder,  the  latter  so  called  after 
the  birthplace  of  the  Berghoffs,  these  names  being  familiar  in  every 
part  of  Fort  Wayne  and  in  other  places  where  the  product  of  the 
plant  is  sold. 

The  Berghoff  Brewery  is  admirably  located  in  the  eastern  part  of 
the  city,  on  Washington  street,  and  impresses  the  beholder  as  one 
of  the  leading  plants  in  a  community  noted  for  the  number  and  im- 
portance of  its  manufacturing  enterprises.  The  officials  of  the  com- 
pany at  this  time  are  Herman  Berghoff,  president;  Hubert  Berg- 
hoff, vice-president;  William  A.  Fleming,  secretary  and  treasurer, 
all  three  of  these  gentlemen  standing  in  the  front  rank  of  the  city's 
influential  business  men  and  substantial  citizens. 

FORT  WAYNE  KNITTING  MILL. 

To  this  large  and  rapidly  growing  enterprise  but  scant  justice 
can  be  done  in  a  description  of  the  limits  to  which  this  article  is 
necessarily  confined,  occupying  as  it  does  a  leading  place  among  the 
manufacturing  plants  of  Fort  Wayne  and  doing  as  much  as  any 
other  to  advertise  the  city  abroad  and  give  it  prominence  as  an  im- 


204  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER     BASIN. 

portant  industrial  center,  being  the  only  exclusively  full-fashioned 
hosiery  mill  in  the  United  States  and  the  first  to  compete  successfully 
with  the  mills  of  Germany  and  other  European  countries.  The  fame 
of  its  goods  extends  from  coast  to  coast,  and  the  demand  for  the 
same  by  the  leading  trade  houses  of  the  country  has  enabled  the  com- 
pany to  build  up  a  business  of  a  million  dollars  per  year,  with  the 
prospects  of  still  greater  patronage  and  wider  influence  in  the  fu- 
ture. 

The  prime  mover  and  leading  spirit  in  the  inception  and  organi- 
zation of  this  great  industry  was  T.  F.  Thieme,  through  whose  ef- 
forts a  company  was  formed  in  September,  1891,  consisting  of  the 
following  well-known  business  men  of  Fort  Wayne:  H.  C.  Paul, 
W.  H.  Dreier,  W.  A.  Bohn,  C.  H.  Bash,  J.  C.  Peters  and  T.  J. 
Thieme,  of  whom  H.  C.  Paul  was  elected  president;  T.  F.  Thieme, 
secretary  and  manager,  and  W.  H.  Dreier,  treasurer.  The  amount 
of  stock  being  sufficient  to  justify  the  company  in  proceeding  with 
the  enterprise,  a  small  building  on  the  corner  of  Clinton  and  Main 
streets  was  rented  and  equipped  with  the  necessary  machinery,  and 
in  due  time  operations  began,  modestly  at  first,  but  as  the  business 
grew  the  success  was  such  as  to  encourage  the  promoters  to  still 
greater  exertions;  accordingly,  at  the  end  of  one  year  and  four 
months  it  was  found  necessary  to  increase  the  facilities  and  provide 
a  larger  and  better  adapted  building,  plans  and  specifications  for 
which  were  at  once  prepared  and  accepted.  This  building,  which 
has  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  present  plant,  was  pushed  to  comple- 
tion as  rapidly  as  conditions  would  admit,  and  when  finished  and 
ready  for  use  the  industry  entered  upon  an  era  of  prosperity  which 
within  a  comparatively  brief  period  not  only  established  it  upon  a 
firm  and  enduring  basis,  but  won  for  it  a  prominence  and  prestige 
second  to  that  of  no  other  manufacturing  enterprise  in  the  city.  The 
continued  growth  of  the  business  required  frequent  additions  to  the 
buildings,  which  were  enlarged  from  time  to  time,  until  the  plant 
now  contains  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  square  feet  of  floor 
space,  being  an  imposing  three-story  brick  structure,  handsomely 
furnished  and  admirably  suited  to  the  purpose  for  which  designed. 
In  this  mammoth  establishment,  which  is  a  veritable  hive  of  human 
industry,  eleven  hundred  operators  are  employed  every  working  day 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  205 

of  the  year,  during  which  time  the  product  of  their  labor  amounts  to 
four  million  eight  hundred  thousand  pairs  of  hose,  which  in  points 
of  durability,  neatness  and  all  the  other  qualities  of  high  grade  hos- 
iery, are  unexcelled  by  the  output  of  any  other  establishment  of  the 
kind  in  the  world. 

A  special  feature  of  the  Fort  Wayne  Knitting  Mill  is  the  manu- 
facture of  a  practically  indestructible  black  stocking  for  both  ladies 
and  gentlemen,  which  in  the  matters  of  color  and  wear  is  fully  guar- 
anteed, few  if  any  mills  in  this  line  having  thus  guaranteed  their 
goods.  As  already  indicated,  the  great  popularity  of  the  product  of 
this  mill  has  created  a  correspondingly  great  demand,  and  at  this 
time  its  goods  are  sold  in  every  state  and  territory  of  the  Union, 
leading  all  others  wherever  brought  into  competition.  The  opera- 
tors are  mostly  residents  of  the  city,  and  have  been  carefully  trained 
for  their  respective  kinds  of  labor,  the  majority  having  entered  the 
mill  when  old  enough  for  the  duties  required  of  them,  and  their 
long  periods  of  service  bespeaks  not  only  efficiency  and  skill  on  their 
part,  but  kind  and  considerate  treatment  on  the  part  of  the  man- 
agement, reciprocity  of  interest  being  the  dominant  principle  of  the 
establishment.  From  its  inception  the  enterprise  has  been  maintained 
exclusively  by  Fort  Wayne  capital,  the  officers  and  stockholders  be- 
ing residents  of  the  city  and  among  its  most  enterprising  and  capable 
business  men.  For  their  interest  in  building  up  an  establishment, 
which  is  not  only  a  credit  to  the  city,  but  to  the  state  and  nation  as 
well,  they  deserve  and  have  the  esteem  and  high  regard  of  the  com- 
munity, and  in  a  special  manner  they  have  won  the  thanks  of  the 
people  of  the  city  for  bringing  the  hosiery  industry  from  Chemnitz, 
Germany,  where  for  a  period  of  over  one  hundred  years  it  had 
grown  and  flourished. 

Under  the  benign  influence  of  our  tariff'  laws,  the  Fort  Wayne 
plant  has  been  enabled  to  compete  successfully  with  the  imported 
product  of  many  foreign  factories,  and  build  up  and  maintain  a  busi- 
ness of  large  proportions  and  far-reaching  influence,  the  establish- 
ment, with  all  of  its  success  in  the  past,  its  high  reputation  at  the 
present  time,  and  its  bright  prospects  of  future  growth,  standing  as 
a  monument  to  American  enterprise  under  the  protection  of  an 
American  policy.    The  officers  into  whose  hands  the  management  of 


206  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER     BASIN. 

the  mill  is  now  entrusted  are :  S.  M.  Foster,  president;  W.  E.  Moss- 
man,  vice-president;  T.  F.  Thieme,  secretary  and  manager;  Edward 
Helmcke,  treasurer,  and  F.  J.  Thieme,  superintendent.  The  orig- 
inal capital  of  the  company  was  thirty  thousand  dollars,  which 
has  been  increased  from  time  to  time  until  the  stock  now  amounts  to 
seven  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  the  additions  to  its 
capitalization  indicating  not  only  the  phenomenal  success  of  the  en- 
terprise, but  its  financial  solidity  and  permanency  as  well. 

In  addition  to  hosiery  there  are  several  establishments  in  Fort 
Wayne  for  the  manufacture  of  gloves,  mittens  and  similar  lines  of 
goods,  all  of  which  appear  to  be  well  patronized  and  in  a  flourishing 
condition,  Many  merchants  of  the  city  purchase  their  stock  of  mit- 
tens and  gloves  of  these  local  concerns,  and  they  are  also  liberally 
patronized  by  business  houses  in  a  number  of  neighboring  cities  and 
towns,  while  a  large  and  growing  business  is  maintained  by  shipment 
to  more  distant  points. 

The  Economy  Glove  Company,  at  No.  301  Wallace  street,  does 
a  lucrative  business  in  the  making  of  handwear,  also  the  Fort  Wayne 
Glove  and  Mitten  Company,  whose  establishment,  at  No.  119  East 
Columbia  street,  is  well  known  to  the  local  and  general  trade,  as  the 
magnitude  of  its  patronage  abundantly  attests.  Both  enterprises 
are  conducted  by  men  of  sound  judgment  and  enjoy  excellent  repu- 
tation in  the  industrial  and  commercial  circles  of  the  city.  H.  Lev- 
ington  has  been  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  these  lines  of  goods 
for  some  time  at  No.  339  East  Main  street,  and  the  Toby  Glove 
Factory,  No.  522  Mechanic  street,  is  a  well  known  and  liberally  pat- 
ronized establishment,  as  is  also  the  Union  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, the  product  of  which  is  greater  perhaps  than  that  of  any  sim- 
ilar enterprise  in  the  city. 

The  Paragon  Company,  of  which  M.  C.  McDougal  is  president 
and  treasurer,  was  incorporated  in  1896  with  a  paid-up  capital  of 
forty  thousand  dollars,  the  object  of  the  concern  being  the  manu- 
facture of  shirt  waists,  all  kinds  and  qualities  of  which  are  turned 
out  and  find  a  ready  sale  in  Fort  Wayne  and  many  other  cities  and 
towns  of  Indiana,  Ohio,  Michigan,  and  throughout  the  country  gen- 
erally. The  high  grade  of  the  goods  made  by  this  firm  commends 
them  to  the  trade,  and  the  works,  situated  on  East  Columbia  street, 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  207 

are  taxed  to  their  utmost  capacity  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  nu- 
merous customers. 

The  Union  Manufacturing  Company,  the  chief  product  of  which 
is  gloves,  was  incorporated  in  1901,  and  from  that  time  to  the  pres- 
ent the  business  has  grown  steadily  in  magnitude,  the  output  being 
largely  sought  by  dealers  who  handle  first-class  goods  of  the  kind. 
The  original  capital  of  ten  thousand  dollars  has  been  considerably 
increased,  and  the  plant,  which  is  located  on  Maiden  Lane,  has  been 
enlarged  at  intervals  to  enable  the  company  to  keep  pace  with  the 
trade.  Julius  Tonne  is  president  of  the  company,  in  addition  to 
which  office  he  also  holds  the  position  of  treasurer,  discharging  his 
duties  in  a  capable  and  eminently  praiseworthy  manner.  W.  F. 
Ranke,  the  secretary,  is  a  man  of  fine  business  ability,  and  has  done 
much  to  win  for  the  company  its  present  high  standing  in  industrial 
circles. 

The  Hoosier  Manufacturing  Company,  which  was  incorporated 
in  April,  188 1,  with  a  capital  of  thirty  thousand  dollars,  has  ad- 
vanced to  a  respectable  position  among  the  influential  industries  of 
the  city,  the  principal  product  consisting  of  overalls,  shirts,  pants, 
and  like  wearing  apparel,  which  are  manufactured  in  immense  quan- 
tities, and  which  are  highly  prized  by  the  general  trade,  easily  com- 
peting with  the  best  made  goods  of  the  kind  on  the  market.  John  P. 
Evans  is  president  of  the  company,  O.  F.  Evans,  vice-president,  and 
George  P.  Evans,  treasurer. 

The  Boss  Manufacturing  Company,  a  popular  enterprise  whose 
principal  output  consists  of  mittens  and  gloves,  has  a  large  and  sub- 
stantially constructed  two-story  brick  building  at  the  intersection  of 
South  Calhoun  and  East  Superior  streets,  where  a  full  complement 
of  men,  women  and  girls  are  employed,  the  establishment  being  well 
equipped  and  affording  every  evidence  of  prosperity  and  growth. 

THE   SHIRT   WAIST   INDUSTRY. 

An  enterprise  of  Fort  Wayne  second  in  magnitude  and  import- 
ance to  few  others  is  the  manufacture  of  shirt  waists,  which  S.  M. 
Foster  has  built  up  and  which  has  steadily  grown  in  proportions 
until  it  now  represents  many  thousands  in  capital,  while  the  product 


208  THE    MAUMEE   RIVER     BASIN. 

of  the  immense  establishment  finds  its  way  into  the  markets  of  every 
state  and  territory  of  the  Union.  Mr.  Foster  engaged  in  this  line 
of  ■  manufacture  about  the  time  the  child's  shirt  waist  attained  pop- 
ularity, and  within  a  comparatively  brief  period  the  demand  for  the 
goods  was  so  great  that  he  was  obliged  to  enlarge  the  facilities  of  his 
establishment,  Dame  Fashion  the  meanwhile  issuing  a  decree  to  the 
effect  that  women's,  as  well  as  children's  apparel,  would  be  incomplete 
and  out  of  date  without  the  addition  of  this  modern  innovation,  ren- 
dering necessary  a  still  further  increase  in  the  productive  capacity  of 
the  factory. 

Mr.  Foster  has  kept  pace  with  the  progress  of  the  times  and  the 
demand  for  high-grade  goods,  and  since  the  year  1886  his  business 
presents  a  series  of  advancements  and  successes  such  as  few  manu- 
facturers achieve,  his  establishment  at  this  time  affording  remunera- 
tive employment  to  several  hundred  operators,  mostly  females,  and 
ranking  with  the  leading  industries  of  the  city.  The  building  is 
large,  well  lighted  and  ventilated,  and  thoroughly  equipped  with  the 
latest  machinery  and  devices  for  expedious  work,  and  the  finished 
product  represents  every  kind  of  shirt  waists  on  the  market,  from 
the  plain,  cheap  type,  to  the  most  expensive  and  ornate. 

BREAD   AND   BISCUIT    INDUSTRY. 

An  enumeration  of  the  enterprises  that  have  advanced  the  indi- 
vidual interests  of  Fort  Wayne  and  added  to  the  city's  general  de- 
velopment and  improvement  would  be  incomplete  without  due  refer- 
ence to  the  extensive  and  growing  business  of  the  Perfection  Biscuit 
Company,  which  has  become  one  of  the  largest  and  most  important 
enterprises  of  the  kind,  not  only  in  the  city,  but  in  the  state.  The 
output  of  this  immense  establishment  is  so  familiar  as  to  require  no 
description,  and  its  value  to  the  public  in  the  matter  of  domestic 
economy  is  great  beyond  compare.  The  company's  business  is  con- 
ducted in  a  large  five-story  brick  building,  in  the  construction  and 
equipment  of  which  neither  money  nor  pains  has  been  spared,  and 
the  vast  amount  of  bread,  biscuits,  crackers,  cakes,  etc.,  marked  with 
the  favorite  brand,  bear  witness  to  the  energy  and  enterprise  of  a 
firm  which  not  only  in  this  city,  but  in  many  other  populous  centers, 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  209 

hesitates  at  no  obstacle  in  order  to  provide  the  people  with  cheap  and 
wholesome  articles  of  food.  A  large  number  of  young*  men  and 
young  women  find  remunerative  employment  in  the  plant  at  this 
place,  the  building  when  in  full  operation  being  a  veritable  hive  of 
activity,  in  addition  to  which  there  are  commodious  offices  and 
storerooms  where  the  product  is  prepared  for  delivery  to  local  deal- 
ers and  for  shipment.  The  following  are  the  officers  of  the  Perfec- 
tion Biscuit  Company  at  this  time :  J.  B.  Pranke,  president ;  W.  A. 
Bohn,  vice-president,  and  M.  B.  Singleton,  secretary  and  treasurer. 

An  enterprise  similar  to  the  above  and  of  equal  value  to  the  pub- 
lic, though  not  on  quite  such  an  extensive  scale,  is  the  Craig  Bis- 
cuit Company,  which  commands  a  large  and  lucrative  patronage  in 
Fort  Wayne  and  throughout  the  state,  the  business  from  the  begin- 
ning having  met  the  expectations  of  the  proprietors  and  justified 
them  in  the  investment  of  their  capital.  The  facilities  of  the  com- 
pany are  ample  for  present  requirements,  the  buildings  being  sub- 
stantial, commodious  and  admirably  adapted  to  the  purpose  for 
which  designed,  while  nothing  has  been  done  in  the  way  of  machin- 
ery and  appliances,  the  latest  and  most  approved  methods  of  bread- 
making  being  the  governing  principle  of  the  establishment.  The 
high  place  which  this  company  occupies  in  the  favor  of  the  public 
proves  that  it  has  become  and  will  continue  to  be  one  of  Fort  Wayne's 
permanent  and  popular  enterprises,  and  its  past  success  justifies  the 
prediction  of  greater  advancement  and  wider  influence  in  the  future. 
The  officers  of  the  company  are  J.  C.  Craig,  president;  George  A. 
Durfee,  vice-president;  O.  C.  Krotz,  secretary  and  treasurer,  and 
J.  J.  Dannenfelser,  manager. 

A  third  enterprise  of  the  same  nature  is  the  National  Biscuit 
Company,  which  does  a  very  large  business  in  the  manufacture  of 
various  brands  of  crackers,  cakes,  biscuits,  etc.,  competing  success- 
fully with  the  two  establishments  already  mentioned,  and  constantly 
extending  its  influence  in  trade  circles.  The  local  patronage  in- 
cludes many  of  the  leading  business  houses  handling  this  kind  of 
goods,  while  the  general  trade  includes  a  wide  range  of 
territory,  of  which  Fort  Wayne  is  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant centers.  The  popular  and  efficient  manager  of  the 
company     in    this     city    is     Myron    J.     Downing.       The    build- 

14 


210  THE   MAUMEE    RIVER     BASIN. 

ing  in  which  the  firm  carries  on  its  business  is  a  large  brick 
edifice  admirably  located  in  the  very  heart  of  the  city,  and  contains, 
in  addition  to  ample  manufacturing  facilities,  handsomely  arranged 
offices  and  other  apartments,  all  well  finished  and  furnished  and  es- 
pecially adapted  to  the  different  lines  of  clerical  work  required  by  the 
firm. 

PLUMBING  SUPPLIES. 

The  manufacture  of  plumbers'  supplies  has  become  an  important 
industry  in  Fort  Wayne,  being  conducted  upon  an  extensive  scale 
by  the  Knott,  Van  Arnum  Company,  whose  large  plant,  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  city,  is  fully  equipped  with  every  device  required 
for  the  successful  prosecution  of  the  business.  The  buildings  of  the 
firm  are  substantially  constructed  and  commodious,  while  the  char- 
acter of  the  output  is  such  as  to  require  the  labor  of  mechanics  espe- 
cially skilled  in  their  line  of  work,  a  full  complement  of  whom  are 
employed.  This  is  one  of  the  more  recent  of  the  city's  industrial 
enterprises,  and  the  company  was  induced  to  locate  its  plant  here 
largely  through  the  efforts  and  influence  of  the  Fort  Wayne  Com- 
mercial Club. 

THE   WASHING    MACHINE   INDUSTRY. 

The  Anthony  Wayne  washing  machine  has  attained  wide  celeb-, 
rity,  as  is  attested  by  the  vast  number  now  in  use  throughout  the 
United  States  and  Canada,  its  popularity  having  increased  with 
each  recurring  year  ever  since  its  manufacture  was  begun  by  the 
Anthony  Wayne  Manufacturing  Company,  which  has  long  ranked 
among  the  important  industries  of  the  city.  The  superior  quality 
of  the  material  used  in  its  construction,  simplicity  of  mechanism  and 
ease  with  which  operated,  are  among  the  qualities  which  recommend 
the  Anthony  Wayne  washer,  and,  as  already  indicated,  they  are  now 
to  be  found  in  thousands  of  homes,  and  wherever  tested  have  proven 
highly  satisfactory,  fully  coming  up  to  everything  claimed  for  them 
by  the  manufacturers. 

In  addition  to  washing  machines,  the  Anthony  Wayne  Company 
has  recently  added  oil  tanks  to  its  list  of  manufactured  products, 
making  a  high  grade  tank  which  sells  well  and  which  is  disposed  of 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  211 

in  large  numbers,  locally  and  elsewhere.  The  company  was  incorpo- 
rated in  1886,  with  a  capital  of  eighteen  thousand  dollars,  the  officers 
at  the  present  time  being  as  follows :  President,  John  Rhinesmith ; 
secretary  and  treasurer,  J.  H.  Simonson. 

The  Peerless  Manufacturing  Company's  washing  machine  of 
the  same  name  has  also  become  widely  and  favorably  known,  the 
product  of  the  works  in  this  city  competing  with  other  washers  on 
the  market,  and  steadily  growing  in  favor.  The  company  is  soundly 
financed,  and,  being  managed  by  men  of  high  standing  in  the  busi- 
ness world,  its  future  growth  and  success  are  beyond  conjecture. 

The  Horton  Manufacturing  Company,  in  the  western  part  of 
the  city,  on  Osage  street,  near  Main,  was  organized  early  in  the  '80s 
for  the  manufacture  of  a  high-grade  washing  machine,  the  superior 
merits  of  which  soon  gained  wide  publicity  for  the  enterprise  and  a 
large  lucrative  patronage.  In  August,  1883,  the  company  was  in- 
corporated with  a  capital  stock  of  thirty  thousand  dollars,  since 
which  time  the  business  has  steadily  grown  in  magnitude  until  there 
are  now  about  seventy  thousand  of  its  washing  machines  in  use 
throughout  the  United  States  and  Canada,  the  establishment  being 
taxed  to  its  utmost  capacity  to  meet  the  constantly  increasing  de- 
mands of  the  trade.  Considerable  attention  is  also  given  to  the  man- 
ufacture of  corn  planters,  of  which  there  are  four  different  types,  and 
for  these,  as  well  as  for  the  principal  product,  much  is  claimed  and 
conceded  by  reason  of  their  durability,  simplicity  and  superiority  of 
construction  and  mechanism.  The  large  buildings  and  lumber  yards 
of  the  company  cover  over  an  acre  of  ground,  and  when  operated 
at  its  normal  capacity  a  force  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  to  one 
hundred  and  fifty  workmen  are  required,  the  majority  being  skilled 
mechanics  and  especially  proficient  in  their  particular  lines  of  work. 
The  officers  of  the  company  for  the  year  1904-5  are  as  follows: 
President,  H.  C.  Paul;  vice-president,  J.  C.  Peters;  secretary,  Wil- 
liam F.  Peters;  treasurer,  Fred  C.  Peters;  the  vice-president  being 
manager  of  the  plant. 

It  is  fitting  in  this  connection  to  state  that  the  washing  machine 
industry  of  Fort  Wayne  has  been  for  a  number  of  years  one  of  the 
city's  most  important  interests,  more  of  these  machines  being  made 
here  than  in  any  other  city  in  the  world.     The  Wei  sell  washer,  for- 


212  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

merly  made  by  Diether  &  Barrows;  the  Rocker,  manufactured  by 
Frank  Alderman ;  the  Anthony  Wayne,  referred  to  above,  the  West- 
ern washer  of  the  Horton  Manufacturing  Company,  and  the  Peer- 
less, are  all  products  of  the  highest  character,  while  their  output  is 
something  enormous. 

The  Superior  Manufacturing  Company,  whose  works  are  on 
West  Main  street,  has  grown  into  an  enterprise  of  considerable  mag- 
nitude and  stands  well  to  the  front  among  the  city's  industries.  This 
company,  of  which  B.  Hedekind  is  president,  and  M.  B.  Tyger,  sec- 
retary and  treasurer,  was  incorporated  in  August,  1902,  with  a  cap- 
ital of  ten  thousand  dollars,  and,  as  indicated  above,  has  achieved 
well  merited  success  and  is  constantly  extending  its  business,  being 
ably  managed  by  men  of  discreet  judgment  and  wide  practical  expe- 
rience. 

THE  PACKING  INDUSTRY. 

The  Fred  Eckart  Packing  Company,  the  oldest  concern  of  the 
kind  in  Fort  Wayne,  was  established  nearly  a  half  century  ago  by  the 
father  of  the  present  proprietors,  and  has  long  been  one  of  the  lead- 
ing packing  houses  in  the  state.  The  plant,  including  grounds  and 
buildings,  is  in  the  west  end  of  the  city,  and  covers  two  and  a  half 
acres  of  land.  The  main  building  is  a  large  brick  structure,  two  and 
three  stories  in  height,  in  which  an  average  of  eighty  men  are  em- 
ployed to  handle  the  extensive  business  which  the  company  now 
commands.  About  fifty  thousand  hogs  are  slaughtered  and  packed 
annually,  and  from  five  thousand  to  eight  thousand  beeves;  in  addi- 
tion to  which  the  manufacture  of  sausage  and  the  refining  of  lard 
have  become  important  features  of  the  concern,  the  popularity  of 
these  products,  as  well  as  the  Eckart  brand  of  meats  causing  a  large 
demand  of  the  local  and  general  trade,  the  latter  being  confined  to  a 
radius  of  from  forty-five  to  fifty  miles  around  the  city.  The  business 
has  always  been  in  the  hands  of  the  Eckart  family,  and  at  this  time  is 
owned  and  managed  by  two  brothers  and  one  sister,  namely:  Fred 
Eckart,  who  is  president  of  the  concern;  Elizabeth  Eckart,  vice- 
president,  and  Henry  Eckart,  who  holds  the  dual  office  of  secretary 
and  treasurer;  C.  E.  Hartshorn  being  the  efficient  superintendent  of 
the  plant. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,    INDIANA.  213 

The  Bash  Packing  Company  is  also  an  old  and  firmly  established 
enterprise  which  has  done  a  large  and  flourishing  business  in  its 
line,  and  which  is  still  one  of  the  substantial  industrial  interests  of 
Fort  Wayne.  Its  history  of  many  years  has  been  characterized  by 
continuous  successes,  and  being  financially  strong,  the  company  has 
exercised  its  proportionate  share  of  influence  in  advancing  the  inter- 
ests of  the  city  and  promoting  its  development. 

Another  concern  that  does  a  thriving  trade  in  the  curing  and 
packing  of  meats  is  the  Leikauf  Packing  Company,  in  addition  to 
which  there  are  several  parties  who  carry  on  a  prosperous  local  busi- 
ness, but  do  little  in  the  way  of  shipment. 

CARPETS  AND  RUGS. 

The  making  of  rugs  and  carpets  receives  due  attention  in  Fort 
Wayne,  several  firms  being  engaged  in  this  line  of  industry,  with  en- 
couraging results.  The  Chicago  Carpet  Rug  Factory,  on  the  north- 
west corner  of  Superior  and  Wells  streets,  has  built  up  a  thriving 
business,  also  the  Fort  Wayne  Rug  and  Carpet  Factory,  whose  es- 
tablishment, at  No.  1424  Broadway,  has  a  very  satisfactory  patron- 
age, the  output  of  both  concerns  being  noted  for  beauty  of  design, 
skillful  workmanship  and  durability  of  wear. 

Another  firm  engaged  in  the  same  line  of  manufacture  is  the  In- 
diana Carpet  Rug  Factory,  which  has  a  well  furnished  establish- 
ment at  No.  1207  Lafayette  street,  where  work  is  done  to  order,  as 
well  as  for  the  general  trade,  the  business  of  the  firm  being  all  that 
could  reasonably  be  expected  from  the  amount  of  capital  invested. 
Others  engaged  in  the  line  are  Leopold  Beck,  Charles  Cragg,  E.  J. 
Fox,  E.  P.  Hertweg,  W.  T.  Schoen  and  J.  T.  Wolfram,  all  of  which 
have  a  liberal  patronage  and  are  prospering  in  the  undertaking. 

SADDLERY  AND  HARNESS. 

Among  the  various  manufacturing  interests  of  Fort  Wayne,  that 
of  saddlery  and  harness  making  stands  well  to  the  front,  the  parties 
engaged  therein  being  men  of  energy  and  enterprise,  as  the  volume 
of  business   transacted  by .  them  abundantly  attests.      Conspicuous 


214  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

among  the  firms  in  this  line  of  work  is  the  Fort  Wayne  Saddlery 
Company,  on  East  Columbia  street,  which,  in  addition  to  manufac- 
turing all  kinds  of  harness,  keeps  on  hand  a  large  and  varied  stock 
of  the  finest  goods  of  the  kind  in  the  market,  the  trade  of  this  firm 
being  as  large  perhaps  as  that  of  any  other  concern  of  the  kind  in 
the  city. 

J.  W.  Bell  is  also  engaged  in  the  saddlery  and  harness  business, 
and  commands  a  patronage  which  is  satisfactory  and  steadily  grow- 
ing. Other  manufacturers  and  dealers  are  Fred  Hilt,  E.  S.  Johns, 
A.  L.  Johns,  Henry  Klebe,  G.  H.  Kuntz,  C.  H.  Rudolph,  J.  F. 
Sergeant,  Louis  Traub,  Philip  Wick,  the  Schroeder  Brothers,  and 
quite  a  number  of  others,  all  of  whom  make  goods  to  order,  as  well 
as  for  the  general  trade,  and  do  a  creditable  business. 

The  horse  collar  industry  has  commanded  the  attention  of  Fort 
Wayne  parties  for  a  number  of  years,  the  oldest  enterprise  of  the 
kind  in  the  city  being  the  Racine  Horse  Collar  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, so  named  from  the  founder,  Aime  Racine,  who,  with  a  partner, 
engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  harness  as  long  ago  as  1865,  the 
making  of  collars  being  subsequently  added.  The  latter  article  prov- 
ing more  remunerative,  the  firm  gradually  made  a  specialty 
of  its  manufacture,  and  the  excellence  of  the  product  in  due  time 
gave  the  company  a  wide  and  creditable  reputation.  To  meet  the 
growing  demand  of  the  trade  Mr.  Racine  erected  a  large  three-story 
building  on  the  corner  of  First  and  North  Cass  streets,  in  which  a 
very  successful  business  was  afterward  conducted,  the  enterprise  at 
this  time  being  under  the  management  of  Mrs.  Aime  Racine,  widow 
and  successor  of  the  founder.  T.  L.  Racine  is  also  identified  with 
the  industry,  and  other  parties  engaged  in  this  same  line  of  business 
are  John  Bayer  and  A.  L.  Johns,  each  gentleman  conducting  an  es- 
tablishment of  his  own. 

The  manufacture  of  paints,  varnishes  and  oils  has  grown  into  a 
business  of  large  proportions,  the  leading  firm  in  these  lines  being 
William  Moellering  &  Sons,  whose  goods  have  a  wide  sale,  and  wher- 
ever used  are  noted  for  their  superior  quality  and  excellence.  Va- 
rious kinds  of  paints  are  also  made  by  the  Fort  Wayne  Steam  Spe- 
cialty Company,  whose  establishment  at  Nos.   13 18  and  1322  Erie 


ALLEN   COUNTY,    INDIANA.  215 

street,  has  grown  into  a  large  and  prosperous  concern,  and  whose 
different  products  in  the  line  of  specialties  have  an  extensive  sale. 

In  the  matter  of  patent  medicines  of  different  kinds  Fort  Wayne 
has  taken  rapid  strides,  several  parties  and  firms  being  interested  in 
the  manufacture  of  popular  remedies,  with  large  amounts  of  capital 
invested.  Prominent  among  these  concerns  is  the  Moeller- 
ing  Medicine  Company,  which  has  achieved  signal  success  in  the 
manufacture  of  a  number  of  curatives  which  have  become  quite  pop- 
ular, and  for  which  there  is  a  wide  and  steadily  increasing  demand. 
H.  H.  Haines  has  earned  an  honorable  reputation  as  the  manufact- 
urer of  a  number  of  remedies,  the  efficacy  of  which  is  pretty  generally 
recognized  and  appreciated,  as  is  manifest  by  their  sale  in  the  lead- 
ing cities  of  the  country,  to  say  nothing  of  their  popularity  in  smaller 
places  and  remoter  districts.  One  of  the  largest  and  most  liberally 
patronized  patent  medicine  firms  of  the  city  is  the  Rundell  Proprie- 

si  'pams  J3]}iag  is^g  61  £  'O^r  T&  'Ltoyejoqvi  3SOi|M  'Xirediuo;3  Xjb; 
fitted  up  on  an  extensive  scale  for  the  manufacture  of  the  various 
remedies,  which  during  the  last  few  years  have  been  widely  adver- 
tised and  sold,  the  large  amount  disposed  of  affording  the  best  testi- 
monial as  to  their  curative  properties.  Another  medical  concern  that 
has  done  a  creditable  business  and  rapidly  extended  its  influence  is 
the  Live  Stock  Proprietary  Remedy  Company,  the  nature  of  which 
is  clearly  and  succinctly  set  forth  in  the  style  of  the  firm.  This  com- 
pany is  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  a  number  of  remedies  for 
horses,  cattle  and  other  live  stock,  the  efficacy  of  which  has  been 
critically  tested  to  the  satisfaction,  not  only  of  the  patentees  and  own- 
ers, but  to  all  who  have  used  them.  Among  farmers  and  stock  men 
they  are  held  in  high  repute  as  curative  agencies,  and  their  popularity 
is  creating  a  demand  which  has  already  won  for  the  company  honor- 
able repute  throughout  Indiana  and  neighboring  states. 

Other  industries  deserving  of  special  mention,  but  which  the  lim- 
its of  this  review  admit  of  only  casual  notice,  are  the  manufacture 
of  office,  store  and  bank  fixtures  by  the  Diether  Lumber  Company,  at 
whose  works,  on  East  Superior  street,  a  full  complement  of  skilled 
artisans  are  employed,  the  product  of  the  concern  in  design,  construc- 
tion and  all  that  constitutes  artistic  and  well  finished  fixtures,  being 
equal  to  the  output  of  any  other  works  in  the  city. 


216  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

BRICK,  TILE,  ETC. 

The  making  of  brick  has  long  been  an  important  industry,  rep- 
resenting many  thousands  of  dollars  of  capital,  the  growth  of  the 
business  keeping  pace  with  the  city's  growth  and  prosperity.  Among 
those  formerly  engaged  in  this  line  of  enterprise  were  John  Braun 
and  his  son,  John  C.  Braun,  the  latter  taking  charge  of  the  business 
after  the  father's  death,  and  conducting  it  quite  extensively  for  a 
number  of  years,  the  output  of  his  yard  amounting  to  eleven  million 
annually.  Joseph  Fremion  also  did  a  thriving  business  for  some 
time,  making  upon  an  average  of  about  one  and  a  half  million  bricks 
per  year.  Others  who  followed  the  business  from  time  to  time,  and 
did  much  to  promote  the  material  welfare  of  the  city,  were  Nelson 
Leonard,  Jefferson  Leonard,  Paul  Koehler  and  John  A.  Koehler. 
The  industry  at  this  time  is  represented  by  J.W.  Koehler.  The  Fort 
Wayne  Brick  and  Tile  Company,  which  has  large  kilns  and  exten- 
sive yards  on  Clinton  street;  William  Miller,  whose  place  of  busi- 
ness is  on  South  Hanna  street,  a  short  distance  south  of  the  city 
limits;  William  M.  Moellering,  at  No.  231-241  Murray  street,  and 
William  H.  F.  Moellering,  on  Calhoun  street,  adjoining  the  corpor- 
ate limits  on  the  south,  the  last  two  gentlemen  being  the  largest  manu- 
facturers and  dealers  in  the  city  and  among  the  largest  in  the  state. 
William  Moellering,  in  addition  to  making  and  handling  all  kinds 
of  brick,  does  a  thriving  business  in  hard  plaster,  fire  clay  and  arti- 
ficial building  stone.  Indeed,  there  are  nearly  a  dozen  individuals 
and  firms  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  brick,  among  which  the 
following  are  perhaps  the  largest  and  most  successful  representatives 
of  the  industry  at  this  time :  The  Fort  Wayne  Cement  Stone  Com- 
pany, the  Fort  Wayne  Pressed  Brick  and  Tile  Company,  the  Citi- 
zens' Brick  Manufacturing  Company,  all  of  which  have  large  and 
well  equipped  plants  and  do  an  extensive  business,  nearly  the  entire 
output  being  used  by  Fort  Wayne  masons  and  builders. 

MARBLE  AND  GRANITE  WORKS. 

There  are  several  marble  and  granite  works  in  the  city,  which  in- 
dicate the  extent  to  which  the  industry  has  grown,  the  business  done 


ALLEN    COUNTY,    INDIANA.  217 

by  each  being  extensive,  as  there  is  always  a  demand  for  this  kind 
of  material  either  for  monumental  or  building  purposes. 

Among  the  firms  and  individuals  engaged  in  the  industry  may 
be  noted  the  following:  Aichele  &  Son,  on  Portage  avenue,  near 
Lindenwood  cemetery;  Hattersley  &  Sons,  whose  establishment 
commands  a  lucrative  patronage  in  the  city  and  elsewhere ;  Cornelius 
Brunner,  on  West  Main  street;  C.  G.  Griebel,  at  Nos.  254-260  West 
Main,  has  an  extensive  local  and  general  trade;  Haag  &  Bates,  No. 
344  East  Columbia  street,  and  Jacob  Koehl,  at  the  corner  of  Broad- 
way and  Main  streets,  are  also  achieving  marked  success  in  this  busi- 
ness. 

ARTIFICIAL  STONE. 

The  manufacture  of  artificial  stone  has  recently  become  an  im- 
portant industry,  being  represented  in  Fort  Wayne  by  several  in- 
dividuals and  firms  who  are  doing  a  prosperous  business  by  reason 
of  the  growing  demand  for  the  material,  many  people  preferring  it 
to  brick  or  natural  stone  for  building  purposes.  Several  large  busi- 
ness blocks  are  constructed  of  the  manufactured  article,  also  a  num- 
ber of  dwellings  of  the  better  class,  which  present  a  very  neat  and 
attractive  appearance,  the  material  being  pronounced  as  durable  as 
any  other  that  nature  or  art  can  provide. 

The  Fort  Wayne  Cement  Stone  Company,  one  of  the  largest 
and  most  successful  enterprises  of  the  kind  in  the  city,  has  extensive 
grounds  and  a  finely  equipped  factory  at  Nos.  20,  27  and  31  Nelson 
street,  where  are  made  all  kinds  of  artificial  stone,  building  blocks 
and  cement,  in  addition  to  which  the  firm  does  a  large  business  in 
contracting,  besides  shipping  immense  quantities  of  its  product  to 
the  leading  markets  of  the  country.  At  the  head  of  this  enterprise 
are  men  of  good  standing  and  wide  experience,  and  the  rating  of 
the  firm  in  business  circles  of  Fort  Wayne,  and  wherever  known, 
is  high  and  its  reputation  eminently  honorable  and  praiseworthy. 

The  Fort  Wayne  Pressed  Brick  Company,  in  addition  to  the 
manufacture  of  the  product  from  which  it  derives  its  name,  does  a 
thriving  business  in  cement  and  artificial  stone,  manufacturing  large 
quantities  of  both  material  and  commanding  a  lucrative  patronage 
among  the  builders  of  Fort  Wayne  and  other  cities. 


218  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

William  Moellering  &  Sons  are  engaged  in  the  same  line  of 
manufacture  in  connection  with  their  various  other  interests,  as  is 
the  well  known  firm  of  Kruse  &  Busching,  at  whose  place  of  busi- 
ness on  East  Superior  street  all  kinds  of  building  material,  natural 
and  artificial,  are  extensively  handled,  to  say  nothing  of  the  large 
trade  the  firm  has  built  up  in  fire  clay  and  other  materials. 

The  manufacture  of  artificial  stone  necessitates  the  use  of  ma- 
chinery especially  adapted  to  the  purpose,  the  making  of  which  has 
already  enlisted  the  interest  of  Fort  Wayne  parties  to  the  extent  of 
a  considerable  investment  of  capital  in  what  is  known  as  the  Fort 
Wayne  Stone  Machine  Company.  The  firm  has  a  complete  and  thor- 
oughly equipped  plant  in  which  is  manufactured  all  kinds  of  ma- 
chinery and  devices  used  in  the  production  of  artificial  stone  and 
cement,  the  increasing  demand  for  the  latter  gaining  for  the  com- 
pany a  patronage  which  has  so  taxed  the  capacity  of  the  plant  that 
an  enlargement  of  its  facilities  will  soon  become  a  necessity.  The 
Fort  Wayne  Cement  Machine  Company,  which  is  similar  in  many 
respects  to  the  above  enterprise,  manufactures  machinery  for  the 
making  of  cement,  artificial  stone  and  other  kinds  of  building  ma- 
terial, and  does  a  very  satisfactory  business,  the  firm  being  soundly 
financed  and  composed  of  wide-awake,  energetic  men  who  have 
triumphed  over  every  obstacle  and  built  up  an  establishment  which 
occupies  no  obscure  place  among  the  industries  of  the  city. 

SUMMIT  CITY  SOAP  WORKS. 

Among  the  important  industries  of  Fort  Wayne  is  the  manu- 
facture of  soap,  one  of  the  largest  and  most  successful  establishments 
of  the  kind  in  Indiana  being  the  Summit  City  Soap  Works,  which 
was  started  here  a  number  of  years  ago,  and  which  has  enjoyed 
continued  prosperity  to  the  present  day,  its  reputation  at  this  time 
comparing  favorably  with  that  of  any  other  interest  of  the  city, 
besides  being  highly  rated  in  the  business  circles  of  a  large  section 
of  the  Union. 

Recently  the  enterprise  came  into  the  possession  of  Mr.  Roche, 
a  man  of  skill  and  experience,  under  whose  efficient  management 
the  facilities  of  the  works  have  been  greatly  enlarged  and  an  im- 


ALLEN   COUNTY,    INDIANA.  219 

petus  given  the  business  such  as  it  never  before  experienced.  The 
several  brands  produced  at  this  factory,  with  the  justly  celebrated 
cleansing  material  " Rub-No-More, "  have  attained  wide  popularity, 
and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  they  lead  in  the  markets  of  many 
cities  and  defy  competition  wherever  used.  The  works  are  operated 
at  their  full  capacity  and  afford  employment  for  a  large  force  of 
men,  women  and  girls,  and,  being  on  a  solid  financial  basis  and  in 
the  hands  of  a  gentleman  eminently  qualified  to  conduct  the  business 
with  a  large  measure  of  success,  it  is  safe  to  predict  for  the  concern 
a  continuance  of  the  prosperous  condition  by  which  its  present 
status  is  characterized. 

THE  CIGAR  INDUSTRY. 

In  a  city  of  the  size  and  importance  of  Fort  Wayne,  where  the 
majority  of  the  adult  male  population  and  not  a  few  juveniles  of  the 
same  sex  are  addicted  to  the  American  habit  of  using  tobacco,  it  is 
natural  to  suppose  that  the  cigar  industry  would  assume  immense 
proportions,  and  such  is  indeed  the  case,  as  the  number  of  firms  and 
individuals  engaged  in  the  business  abundantly  attest.  The  product 
of  many  of  the  Fort  Wayne  factories  have  a  high  reputation,  and 
their  excellence  has  caused  a  large  demand  not  only  on  the  part  of 
local  dealers,  but  by  the  trade  at  large,  quite  a  number  of  traveling 
men  being  employed  to  represent  the  goods  at  other  points. 

The  industry  at  this  time  is  represented  by  the  following  manu- 
facturers :  J.  C.  Eckert,  C.  F.  Albrecht,  Brayer  &  Whitney,  R.  Bever- 
forden,  C.  Bayer,  Louis  Frey,  F.  C.  Grewe,  F.  J.  Gruber,  A.  Hazzard, 

F.  W.  J.  Horn,  Hollister  &  Son,  G.  H.  Humbrecht,  Kasten  & 
Kohlmeyer,  Max  Kirbach,  P.  G.  Kirbach,  T.  C.  Koch,  H.  Lauer,  F. 
McCormick,  G.  Oberwitte,  H.  W.  Ortmann,  H.  A.  Plumadore, 
Pfeiffer  &  Thompson,  M.  Rosenthal,  A.  J.  Scheie,  W.  J.  Schmidt,  F. 

G.  Schneider,  W.  J.  Steckbeck,  S.  G.  Throckmorton,  B.  H.  Trent- 
man,  C.  A.  Tripple  and  Carl  Wilhelm. 

As  indicated  on  another  page  of  this  chapter,  the  industries  of 
Fort  Wayne  are  so  numerous  and  varied  as  to  render  specific  de- 
scription impossible,  a  general  glance  being  all  that  can  reasonably 
be  attempted,  save  in  the  matter  of  the  several  representative  enter- 


220  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

prises  whose  organization  and  history  have  been  given  at  greater 
length.  In  addition  to  the  many  important  establishments  alluded  to, 
there  are  others  perhaps  of  equal  standing  and  influence,  whose  his- 
tory would  doubtless  prove  as  interesting,  but  as  the  data  relating 
thereto  was  not  always  accessible,  the  review  will  close  with  an 
enumeration  of  the  different  articles  manufactured  in  the  city,  not 
mentioned  in  the  preceding  paragraph,  some  of  the  industries  being 
of  recent  growth,  others  having  long  been  represented  in  the  com- 
munity. 

In  several  establishments  different  kinds  of  tools  are  manu- 
factured, this  line  of  industry  having  grown  to  considerable  magni- 
tude of  recent  years.  It  would  be  difficult  to  enumerate  all  the  results 
of  inventive  skill  in  this  particular  department  of  work,  including 
as  it  does,  all  varieties  of  tools  and  implements,  from  the  heavy 
axe  and  sledge  used  by  the  brawny  workmen,  to  the  most  delicate 
instrument  plied  by  the  deft  fingers  of  the  physician,  artist,  or  delver 
into  the  mysteries  of  science.  Many  of  the  larger  establishments 
manufacture  all  the  tools  used  by  their  employees,  while  others  con- 
duct departments  in  which  this  line  of  work  is  carried  on  for  the 
general  trade. 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  manufacture  of  pianos 
and  organs,  but  additional  to  these,  various  other  musical  instru- 
ments are  made  in  the  city,  including  fifes,  flutes,  clarionets  and 
violins,  the  last  being  distinguished  for  skillful  construction  and 
purity  of  tone. 

Tent  making  has  grown  into  quite  an  important  industry,  but  it 
is  not  prosecuted  as  it  was  on  the  plains  of  Shinar  during  the  days 
of  Abraham,  nor  after  the  manner  of  the  orientals  of  the  present 
day,  but  by  machinery  of  the  most  modern  type,  as  witness  the  num- 
ber and  quality  of  this  line  of  goods  annually  produced. 

A  fine  quality  of  leather  is  one  of  the  outputs  of  Fort  Wayne, 
the  business  of  tanning  having  long  been  carried  on  in  the  city,  but 
of  recent  years  the  industry  has  made  rapid  strides  by  reason  of  the 
new  and  improved  process  now  in  use. 

Not  the  least  interesting  among  Fort  Wayne's  many  manu- 
factured products  of  a  high  grade  is  art  glass,  which  is  made  in  large 
quantities  and  used  in  churches,  cathedrals,  in  the  windows  of  the 


ALLEN    COUNTY,    INDIANA.  221 

finer  class  of  residences,  and  for  decorative  purposes  generally,  the 
output  of  the  works  in  this  city  comparing  favorably  with  the  finest 
and  most  artistic  glass  imported  from  Germany,  Italy  and  other 
European  countries. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  stated  that  other  lines  of  artistic 
work  are  successfully  carried  on,  among  which  is  the  making  of 
various  kinds  of  statuary  which,  though  in  its  infancy,  is  steadily 
growing  into  a  remunerative  business. 

The  Fort  Wayne  Cornice  Works  has  become  an  important  in- 
dustry, many  of  the  city's  most  imposing  dwellings,  as  well  as  public 
buildings,  being  beautified  by  the  workmanship  of  this  establish- 
ment. 

The  manufacture  of  street  cars  now  ranks  among  the  city's  lead- 
ing industries,  also  the  manufacture  of  automobiles,  the  latter  being 
of  recent  origin,  but  the  success  which  has  attended  the  business  thus 
far  bespeaks  the  mammoth  proportions  to  which  it  is  bound  to  grow 
at  no  distant  day. 

Tinware  of  all  kinds  is  manufactured  in  quantities  to  meet  the 
local  demand  and  the  general  trade;  oil  stoves,  which  have  become 
as  much  of  a  necessity  as  a  luxury,  are  produced  in  large  numbers 
by  different  establishments ;  grates  and  mantels,  plain  and  of  artistic 
design,  are  the  special  feature  to  which  the  attention  of  several 
parties  is  being  devoted,  their  manufacture  having  long  since  passed 
the  experimental  stage  and  grown  into  an  industry  of  large  pro- 
portions. The  leading  men  in  this  line  of  industry  at  the  present 
time  are  William  Carter  &  Sons,  who  conduct  a  thriving  business, 
and  Hattersley  &  Sons,  whose  establishment  commands  a  large  and 
lucrative  patronage,  not  only  in  the  city,  but  in  various  points  in 
Indiana  and  elsewhere. 

The  broom  industry  is  well  represented  in  Fort  Wayne  by  a 
number  of  parties,  the  larger  manufacturers  being  C.  A.  Cartwright, 
Joseph  Didnerjohn,  Robert  Gage,  F.  C.  Gaskill  and  J.  L.  Hunter, 
each  of  whom  conducts  a  well  regulated  shop  and  employs  an  ade- 
quate force  of  workmen,  the  output  of  their  respective  establish- 
ments going  far  to  supply  the  local  dealers  with  one  of  the  most 
useful  articles  of  household  economy. 

The  making  of  handles  for  all  kinds  of  tools  and  implements 


222  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

is  an  industry  of  no  little  importance  in  this  city,  several  parties  car- 
rying on  the  same,  the  largest  concern  of  the  kind  being  the  With- 
ington  Handle  Company,  on  the  corner  of  Erie  and  Hanna  streets, 
which  does  a  very  extensive  business,  shipping  its  products  to  all 
parts  of  the  United  States,  in  addition  to  a  thriving  local  trade. 

The  manufacture  of  mattresses  is  carried  on  by  Edward  Miller, 
P.  E.  Wolf,  Hugh  Wormcastle  &  Company,  and  the  Pape  Furniture 
Company,  all  of  whom  report  a  successful  business  and  a  growing 
patronage. 

Awnings,  automobile  and  buggy  cushions,  canvas  gloves,  and 
articles  of  a  similar  nature  have  engaged  the  attention  of  business 
men,  and  their  manufacture  is  by  no  means  the  least  of  the  city's 
industrial  enterprises. 

Among  the  various  other  articles  manufactured  in  Fort  Wayne, 
the  following  are  deserving  of  mention,  as  each  represents  the  in- 
vestment of  no  little  capital,  and  the  businesses,  being  in  the  hands 
of  men  of  intelligence,  sound  judgment  and  recognized  integrity, 
are  steadily  growing  and  adding  luster  to  the  city's  reputation  as  an 
industrial  center.  While  the  list  is  by  no  means  complete,  it  doubt- 
less includes  the  majority  of  articles  not  referred  to  in  preceding 
paragraphs,  namely:  Furs,  yeast,  shoes,  gum,  potash,  veneers, 
vinegar,  perfumes,  drag  saws,  wood  saws,  carpenters'  and  mechanics' 
saws,  bed-springs,  show  cases,  baking  pans,  and  other  cooking 
utensils,  hoop-coilers,  razor  straps,  photo  mounts,  zinc  etchings, 
leather  and  rubber  heels,  baking  powder,  leather  gloves,  boiler  clean- 
ers, dental  supplies,  automobile  tops,  hot  air  furnaces,  theatrical 
scenery,  half-tone  engravings,  hay  and  stock  racks,  cotton  racks, 
ice,  chairs,  shirts,  trunks,  fertilizers,  incubators,  cigar  boxes,  pop 
valves,  lawn  swings,  confectionery,  lithographing,  gravel  roofing, 
rubber  stamps,  leather  mittens,  hardwood  floors,  ice  cream,  butter, 
blank  books,  tablets,  underwear,  pop  and  all  kinds  of  soft  drinks, 
cider,  skirts,  books,  tallow,  baskets,  charcoal,  petticoats,  dust  pans, 
and  other  household  articles,  buggy  tops,  wall  plaster,  electrotypes, 
paper  boxes,  bolting  saws,  safety  valves,  bolt  equalizers,  roasted 
coffee,  glove  leathers,  hats,  caps,  steam  launches,  canoes,  shoveling 
boards,  meats  of  all  kinds,  asphalt  paving  material,  stencils,  and 
many  other  articles  representing  nearly  every  line  of  manufacture, 


ALLEN    COUNTY,    INDIANA.  223 

the  production  of  which  is  steadily  growing  in  volume,  and  con- 
tinually adding  to  the  reputation  of  a  city  which  today  ranks  first  in 
the  state  in  the  number  of  industries,  and  which  ultimately  is  destined 
to  become  one  of  the  greatest  industrial  centers  of  the  west. 


224  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


EDUCATION. 


The  following  historical  sketch  of  the  schools  of  Fort  Wayne 
down  to  1896  was  written  by  Dr.  John  S.  Irwin,  who  for  many 
years  was  connected  with  the  public  schools  of  Fort  Wayne  as  trus- 
tee and  superintendent,  and  is  taken  from  a  report  of  the  city  gov- 
ernment. From  1896  to  the  present  the  matter  is  furnished  by 
J.  N.  Study,  superintendent  of  the  Fort  Wayne  public  schools. 

"  Under  the  original  constitution  of  Indiana  no  attempt  what- 
ever was  made  toward  the  opening  of  a  public  school.  But  ef- 
forts, more  or  less  successful,  had  been  made  by  churches  and  pri- 
vate individuals  to  provide  for  the  education  of  the  children  then 
living  in  the  town.  It  is  known  that  at  a  very  early  day  a  school 
was  established  by  the  society  of  Friends  somewhere  in  that  por- 
tion of  what  was  then  part  of  Randolph  county,  but  which  is  now 
Allen  county,  but  no  records  or  reminiscences  whatever  concerning 
the  school  can  be  found. 

"In  1 82 1,  the  Rev.  Isaac  McCoy  was  sent  by  the  Baptist  church 
as  a  missionary  and  teacher  to  the  Indians,  opening  a  school  for 
these  wards  in  the  old  fort;  he  also  received  the  children  of  such 
white  parents  as  were  sent  to  him.  In  this  school  he  was  assisted  at 
various  times  by  Matthew  Montgomery,  Hugh  B.  McKean  and 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Votts.  After  leaving  Mr.  McCoy,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Votts  taught  school  in  a  house  on  the  banks  of  St.  Mary's  river 
near  the  present  site  of  the  gas  works  office. 

"In  1825,  after  the  organization  of  the  county,  the  first  school 
house  of  Fort  Wayne  was  built  on  a  lot  adjoining  the  old  grave 


ALLEN    COUNTY,    INDIANA,  225 

yard,  in  the  rear  of  the  present  jail,  and  was  known  as  the  County 
Seminary.  In  this  building  for  many  years,  under  the  old  ideas  so 
admirably  and  tersely  put  by  'Pete  Jones,'  the  young  of  the  town, 
male  and  female,  were  taught  by  Mr.  John  P.  Hedges  and  his  suc- 
cessor in  office.  About  the  same  time  Mr.  Henry  Cooper,  father  of 
a  present  member  of  the  school  board  and  afterwards  well  known 
as  a  lawyer,  taught  in  an  upper  room  of  an  old  log  house  on  the 
southwest  corner  of  the  public  square.  The  barred  windows  of  this 
primitive  school  house  must  have  served  to*  depress  the  spirits  of  the 
scholars  in  the  bright  spring  weather,  while  the  rough  floor  and 
seats  could  have  had  little  resemblance  to  the  comfortable  and  even 
elegant  appliances  now  provided  for  the  pupil. 

"Mr.  Aughinbaugh,  after  teaching  in  the  old  Masonic  Hall  of 
that  day,  had  charge  of  the  seminary  in  1832-3,  being  followed  in 
1834  by  Smallwood  Noel,  who  died  many  years  later  an  honored 
and  respected  old  man.  He  was  followed  in  the  next  year  by  Mr. 
James  Requa.  About  the  same  time  Mr.  Beggs  taught  in  a  small 
building  on  Columbia  street. 

"In  1835-6  Mr.  Myron  F.  Barbour,  a  most  popular  and  suc- 
cessful teacher,  who  is  still  living  (and  in  his  eighty-sixth  year)  in 
the  enjoyment  of  a  well  earned  and  dignified  ease  and  comfort,*  had 
charge  of  the  seminary,  where  he  laid  the  foundation  of  a  solid  and 
practical  education  to  the  benefit  of  many  of  the  best  business  men 
and  citizens  of  the  town.  He  was  followed  by  Mr.  John  C.  Sivey, 
afterwards  well  known  as  a  civil  engineer  on  the  Wabash  and  Erie 
Canal,  who  later  became  a  resident  of  Wabash.  In  years  gone  by 
an  anecdote  was  well  known  concerning  an  applicant  for  the  posi- 
tion of  teacher  in  the  seminary,  of  whose  moral  qualifications  the 
examiners  entertained  some  suspicions.  Want  of  moral  character 
being  apparently  no  ground  of  action  they  endeavored  to  defeat 
him  by  a  strict  and  thorough  examination  in  the  essentials.  In  less 
than  an  hour  the  examination  resulted  in  the  entire  defeat  of  the 
Board,  and  the  licensing  of  the  applicant. 

"In  the  spring  of  1836,  Miss  Mann,  now  the  honored  wife  of  ex- 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  McCulloch,  and  the  mother  of  Charles 
McCulloch,  president  of  the  Hamilton  National  Bank,  and  Miss 

*Mr.  Barbour  died  some  years  ago.— Ed. 
15 


226  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

Hubbell,  the  late  Mrs.  Royal  Taylor,  came  from  the  east  and  opened 
a  school  of  a  very  high  and  distinguished  character  in  a  room  in  the 
old  court  house;  after  teaching  there  for  a  short  time  they  joined  the 
Rev.  Jesse  Hoover,  who,  on  August  2d  of  that  year,  had  opened 
a  school  in  the  basement  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  the  first  and 
then  the  only  church  in  town,  which  stood  on  the  site  of  the  present 
residence  of  Col.  D.  N.  and  Mr.  Samuel  Foster.*  In  the  charge  of 
this  school  Mr.  Hoover  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  W.  W.  Stevens, 
with  Alexander  Mcjunkin  as  assistant.  Mr.  Stevens  subsequently 
built  a  school  house  on  West  Berry  street,  where,  with  his  wife,  he 
taught  for  many  years. 

"Probably  no  teacher  in  Fort  Wayne,  certainly  none  of  the 
older  ones,  has  so  impressed  himself  and  his  characteristics  upon 
the  memories  and  respect  of  his  pupils  as  did  Alexander  Mcjunkin. 
After  leaving  Mr.  Stevens,  he  built  a  house,  still  standing,  on  the 
east  line  of  Lafayette  street,  between  Berry  and  Wayne  streets, 
where  he  most  successfully  taught  school  for  many  years,  until  in 
1852  he  became  the  treasurer  of  the  Fort  Wayne  &  Chicago  Rail- 
road Company.  A  fine  scholar,  a  strong,  judicious  instructor,  and 
a  stern,  rigidly  strict  disciplinarian,  he  most  forcibly  impressed  his 
ideas  and  teachings  upon  the  minds  of  his  scholars,  and  not  infre- 
quently with  equal  force  upon  their  bodies. 

"In  the  fall  of  1845  the  Presbyterian  church  opened  a  Ladies' 
Seminary  under  the  charge  of  Mrs.  Lydia  Sykes,  which  promised 
great  usefulness,  but,  after  a  year  and  a  half  of  very  successful 
work,  Mrs.  Sykes'  health  failed,  and  she  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev. 
Mr.  James,  who  had  come  to  the  town  in  1846,  and  taught  in  several 
different  buildings.  Many  other  small  private  schools  were  taught 
in  Fort  Wayne,  with  varying  success  by  residents  of  the  town,  one 
of  whom,  was  the  present  Mrs.  Barbara  Renan. 

"In  1849  the  Methodist  College,  afterwards  the  Fort  Wayne 
College,  and  still  later  the  Taylor  University,  situated  at  the  west 
end  of  Wayne  street  was  opened  for  higher  education  under  the 
charge  of  Prof.  A.  C.  McG.  Huestis,  who  passed  from  life  only  a 
few  years  since.  Mr.  Huestis  was  possessed  of  marked  ability  and 
great  originality  as  a  teacher  and  educator,  and  it  is  impossible  fully 


*This  might  be  misleading  now,  as  neither  of  the  gentlemen  have  lived  there  for  several 
years. — Ed. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,    INDIANA.  227 

to  estimate  the  good  seeds  that  were  sown  by  his  labors,  or  the 
fruits  that  have  grown  from  them.  The  institution,  with  a  life  of 
varied  success  and  depression  under  its  different  heads  and  man- 
agement, has  finally  passed  away. 

"In  August,  1852,  the  Presbyterian  Academy  was  reopened 
on  the  site  of  the  present  high  school,*  under  the  charge  of  Mr. 
Henry  McCormick  with  Jacob  Lancers  as  assistant.  The  school 
was  continued  under  different  teachers  with  varying  success  until 
1867,  when  it  was  abandoned,  as  the  public  schools  were  more  eco- 
nomically carrying  out  its  objects,  and  the  lots  sold  to  the  board  of 
school  trustees.  Large  and  well  organized  parochial  schools  had 
also  from  time  to  time  been  opened  under  the  care  and  direction  of 
the  Roman  Catholic,  the  Lutheran,  and  other  churches,  many  of 
which  are  still  existing  well  managed,  well  appointed,  and  success- 
ful in  teaching  their  pupils  the  fundamental  elements  of  religion,  as 
held  by  the  respective  churches,  in  connection  with  the  more  secular 
subjects  of  education.  So  extensively  are  these  parochial  schools 
patronized  by  those  connected  with  their  respective  religious  bodies, 
and  so  high  is  the  character  of  the  work  done  therein,  that  in  con- 
nection with  the  private  and  the  public  schools,  no  excuse  whatever 
can  exist  for  an  ignorant  child  or  an  illiterate  adult. 

"In  closing  this  part  of  the  report,  it  is  proper  to  refer  to  an- 
other institution  of  learning  in  the  city,  whose  origin  is  of  a  later 
date,  but  whose  character  is  worthy  of  especial  commendation  and 
praise. 

"In  1883,  Miss  Carrie  B.  Sharp  and  Mrs.  Delphine  B.  Wells, 
two  of  the  strongest  and  best  qualified  principals  of  the  public 
schools,  strongly  impressed  with  the  growing  necessity  for  such  a 
school,  opened  the  Westminster  Seminary,  for  the  higher  education 
of  young  ladies,  not  only  of  the  city,  but  of  the  surrounding  towns. 
This  institution  has  had  a  growing  career  of  usefulness  and  success 
which  the  writer  earnestly  hopes  may  increase  and  continue  till  the 
present  principals  and  their  successors  and  their  pupils,  for  many 
generations,  have  gone  to  their  higher  rewards.** 

*Since  this  was  written  the  high  school  mentioned  has  been  abandoned  for  the  magnifi- 
cent new  structure  in  another  portion  of  the  city. — Ed. 

**This  school  went  out  of  existence  several  years  ago. — Ed. 


228  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

"Of  Virginia  in  1671,  it  was  said  that  'the  almost  general  want 
of  schools  for  their  children  was  of  most  sad  consideration,  most 
of  all  bewailed  of  the  parents.'  'Every  man,'  said  Sir  William 
Berkeley  in  his  report  to  the  home  government,  'instructs  his  children 
according  to  his  ability.  The  ministers  should  pray  more  and  preach 
less.  But  I  thank  God  there  are  no  free  schools  nor  printing,  and 
I  hope  we  shall  not  have  these  hundred  years;  for  learning  has 
brought  disobedience  and  heresy  and  sects  into  the  world,  and  print- 
ing has  divulged  them  and  libels  against  the  best  government.  God 
keep  us  from  both.'  Most  loyal  follower  of  Jack  Cade  who  tells 
Lord  Say,  'Thou  has  most  traitorously  corrupted  the  youth  of  the 
realm  in  erecting  a  grammar  school ;  and  whereas  before  our  fore- 
fathers had  no  other  books  but  the  score  and  the  tally,  thou  hast 
caused  printing  to  be  used ;  and  contrary  to  the  king,  his  crown,  and 
dignity,  thou  hast  built  a  paper  mill.'  Under  this  same  wise  Gover- 
nor Berkeley,  on  reference  of  the  subject  to  the  king,  a  printing  press 
was  destroyed,  and  public  education,  and  printing  all  news  or  books 
forbidden.  Yet  when  the  same  Virginia,  in  connection  with  other 
states,  ceded  to  the  general  government  her  territory  northwest  of 
the  Ohio  river,  the  congress  of  the  confederation,  in  accordance 
with  the  spirit  of  the  deed  of  cession,  declared  in  article  3,  of  the 
celebrated  ordinance  of  1787,  enacted  for  the  perpetual  government 
of  the  ceded  lands,  'Religion,  morality,  and  knowledge  being  neces- 
sary to  good  government,  and  the  happiness  of  mankind,  schools 
and  the  means  of  education  shall  forever  be  encouraged.'  And 
Washington  in  his  farewell  address,  said,  'Promote,  then,  as  an  ob- 
ject of  primary  importance,  institutions  for  the  general  diffusion  of 
knowledge.  In  proportion  as  the  structure  of  a  government  gives 
force  to  public  opinion,  it  is  essential  that  public  opinion  should  be 
enlightened.' 

"Guided  by  these  wise  and  judicious  views,  the  framers  of  the 
first  constitution  of  Indiana,  in  181 6,  adopted  as  a  fundamental  prin- 
ciple the  following,  which  was  confirmed  by  the  people,  'Knowledge 
and  learning  generally  diffused  through  a  community  being  es- 
sential to>  the  preservation  of  a  free  government,  and  spreading  the 
opportunities  and  advantages  of  education  through  the  various  parts 
of  the  country  being  highly  conducive  to  this  end,'  it  shall  be  the 
duty  of  the  general  assembly  'to1  provide  by  law  for  a  general  sys- 


ALLEN    COUNTY,    INDIANA.  229 

tern  of  education  ascending  in  a  regular  gradation  from  township 
schools  to  a  state  university,  wherein  tuition  shall  be  gratis,  and 
equally  open  to  all.'  The  language  of  the  revised  constitution  of 
185 1  differs  slightly  from  this,  but  recognizing  fully  the  principles 
of  the  ordinance  of  1787,  is  essentially  of  the  same  import.  It  makes 
it  the  duty  of  the  general  assembly  to  'encourage  by  all  suitable 
means,  moral,  intellectual,  scientific  and  agricultural  improvement; 
and  to  provide  by  law  for  a  general  and  uniform  system  of  com- 
mon schools  wherein  tuition  shall  be  without  charge,  and  equally 
open  to  all.' 

"In  article  8,  section  2,  it  declares  that  'The  common  school 
fund  shall  consist  of  the  congressional  township  fund,  and  the  lands 
belonging  thereto;  the  surplus  revenue  fund;  the  saline  fund  and 
the  lands  belonging  thereto;  the  bank  tax  fund,  and  the  fund  aris- 
ing from  the  one  hundred  and  fourteenth  section  of  the  charter  of 
the  state  bank  of  Indiana;  the  fund  to  be  derived  from  the  sale  of 
county  seminaries,  and  the  moneys  and  properties  heretofore  held 
for  such  seminaries;  from  the  fines  assessed  for  breaches  of  the 
penal  laws  of  the  state;  and  from  all  forfeitures  which  may  ac- 
crue ;  all  lands  and  other  estate  which  shall  escheat  to  the  state  for 
want  of  heirs  or  kindred  entitled  to  inheritance;  all  lands  that  have 
been,  or  may  hereafter  be  granted  to  the  state,  where  no  special  pur- 
pose is  expressed  in  the  grant,  and  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  thereof ; 
including  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  swamp  lands,  granted  to  the 
state  of  Indiana  by  the  act  of  congress  of  the  28th  of  September, 
1850,  after  deducting  the  expense  of  selecting  and  draining  the 
same;  taxes  on  the  property  of  corporations,  that  may  be  assessed 
by  the  general  assembly  for  common  school  purposes.' 

"Section  3  declares  that  'The  principal  of  the  common  school 
fund  shall  remain  a  perpetual  fund,  which  may  be  increased,  but 
shall  never  be  diminished;  and  the  income  thereof  shall  be  invio- 
lably appropriated  to  the  support  of  common  schools,  and  to  no 
other  purpose  whatever.' 

"In  the  enabling  act,  authorizing  the  state  of  Indiana,  congress, 
to  insure  the  carrying  out  of  the  directions  of  the  ordinance  of  1787, 
provided  that  section  sixteen  in  every  township  should  be  granted 
to  such  township  for  the  use  of  schools,  and  also  provided  that  two 


230  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER     BASIN. 

whole  townships  should  be  appropriated  to  the  use  of  a  seminary  of 
learning. 

"Under  the  original  constitution  of  1816,  no  effort  whatever 
was  made,  in  what  afterwards  became  Allen  county,  towards  the 
opening  of  any  public  school. 

"Under  the  school  law  of  1852,  passed  by  the  general  assembly 
to  give  force  to  the  provisions  of  the  revised  constitution  of  1851, 
Hugh  McCulloch,  Charles  Case  and  William  Stewart  were,  in  1853, 
appointed  the  first  board  of  school  trustees,  to  organize  and  manage 
the  public  schools  of  Fort  Wayne.  They  found  themselves  in  charge 
of  the  school  affairs  of  a  city  of  some  five  thousand  persons,  of  whom 
about  twelve  hundred  were  of  school  age,  no  school  building,  no 
school  appliances  whatever,  and  not  a  dollar -with  which  to  buy  them. 
They  rented  the  Mcjunkin  school  house  on  Lafayette  street,  ap- 
pointing Mr.  Isaac  Mahurin,  and  his  sister,  Miss  M.  L.  Mahurin, 
to  teach  therein ;  and  a  small  house  on  the  site  of  Mr.  Henry  Paul's 
present  residence  on  West  Wayne  street,  belonging  to  Mr.  A.  M. 
Hulburd,  who,  with  his  wife,  was  engaged  to  teach  in  it.  Both 
schools  were  opened  in  September  of  that  year,  with  a  tuition  fund 
for  their  support  of  three  hundred  and  thirty  dollars  and  seventy- 
two  cents,  and  no  special  fund  whatever.  To  acquire  the  funds 
necessary  to  continue  the  schools,  the  trustees,  as  provided  by  law, 
called  a  public  meeting  to  vote  upon  levying  a  tax  for  that  purpose. 
The  purpose  of  the  meeting  failed  ignominiously,  and  the  trustees 
resigned.  James  Humphrey,  Henry  Sharp,  and  Charles  G.  French 
were  appointed  their  successors,  and  these  gentlemen,  under  a  modi- 
fied law,  assessed  a  tax  of  two  mills  on  the  dollar  for  school  pur- 
poses. 

"With  the  growth  of  the  city  the  necessity  for  additional  school 
accommodations  grew  rapidly,  but  the  means  under  control  of  the 
trustees  kept  no  corresponding  pace.  In  1855,  Mr.  Henry  Sharp 
resigned,  and  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  William  Smith.  The  board 
determined  to  do  all  in  their  power  for  the  relief  of  the  pressing 
needs,  purchased  the  site  of  the  Clay  school  from  Judge  Samuel 
Hanna,  and  that  of  the  Jefferson  school  from  Dr.  Charles  E.  Stur- 
gis,  and  advertised  for  proposals  to  build  the  Clay  school.  They  met 
and  adjourned  from  time  to  time,  but  no  bids  having  been  received, 
with  wonderful  moral  courage  they  assumed  a  responsibility  the  ex- 


ALLEN   COUNTY,    INDIANA.  231 

tent  and  weight  of  which  can  not  now  be  readily  appreciated.  They 
proceeded  with  the  work  themselves,  letting  it  in  portions  as  they 
found  opportunity  and  persons  willing  to  assume  the  risk.  After 
overcoming  many  and  great  difficulties  and  in  the  face  of  innumer- 
able discouragements  they  opened  the  building  on  February  9th, 
with  appropriate  exercises,  having  appointed  the  Rev.  George  A. 
Irvin,  superintendent.  Those  and  those  only  who  have  themselves 
experienced  such  trials  and  difficulties  can  fully  appreciate  the  grati- 
fied feelings  with  which  they  beheld  the  completion  of  their  ardu- 
ous but  valuable  labors. 

"In  September  of  this  year,  ten  gentlemen  of  the  city  generously 
mortgaged  their  personal  realty  to  the  state  sinking  fund  for  $500.00 
each,  sending  the  full  amount  to  the  trustees  who  agreed  to  protect 
the  mortgages  and  pay  the  interest  as  it  should  become  due.  With 
this  money  the  board  built  the  Jefferson  school,  furnishing,  with  the 
Clay  school,  accommodations  for  about  six  hundred  pupils.  With 
the  heavy  debt  hanging  over  them  the  trustees  could  do<  nothing 
further,  although  the  number  of  children  entitled  to  school  privi- 
leges was  constantly  increasing. 

"In  1 86 1  the  supreme  court  decided  the  school  law  then  ex- 
isting unconstitutional,  and  the  schools  were  closed  for  a  short  time. 
A  new  law  was  passed,  but  under  circumstances  so  depressing  and 
disheartening  that  the  membership  of  the  school  board  was  being 
constantly  changed  by  resignation  and  appointment.  In  June,  1863, 
the  Rev.  George  A.  Irvin  resigned  his  position  as  superintendent  to 
become  a  chaplain  in  the  Federal  army,  and  was  succeeded  by  Mr. 
E.  S.  Green,  under  whose  administration  a  reorganization  of  the 
school  and  the  course  of  study  was  attempted,  but  owing  to  the 
great  difficulties  in  the  way,  without  much  success. 

"Early  in  1865  tne  school  law  was  materially  and  advantageously 
amended,  and  the  city  councils  were  empowered  to  elect  boards  of 
school  trustees,  three  in  number,  to  serve  for  three  years  each.  In 
April  of  that  year  the  Fort  Wayne  council  elected  Oliver  P.  Mor- 
gan, Edward  Slocum  and  John  S.  Irwin  trustees,  who  entered  at 
once  upon  the  duties  of  their  office.  In  the  following  June  they 
graduated  the  first  class  who  had  passed  through  the  high  school, 
consisting  of  four  young  ladies  of  very  marked  ability,  two  of  whom 
are  still  teaching  successfully  in  the  schools  which  had  educated 


232  THE    MAUMEE   RIVER     BASIN. 

them.  At  the  close  of  the  school  year  in  June  Mr.  Green  resigned 
his  position  as  superintendent. 

"The  new  school  board  found  the  schools  were  totally  inade- 
quate, no  accommodations,  no  school  appliances  or  aids  whatever, 
themselves  the  inheritors  of  a  magnificent  debt,  and  not  a  dollar  of 
money.  They  had,  however,  keen  appreciation  of  the  importance 
of  their  work,  and  great  faith  in  the  eventual  recognition  of  that 
importance  by  the  community.  They  elected  Mr.  James  H.  Smart, 
now  Dr.  Smart,  president  of  Purdue  University,*  as  superintendent. 
With  a  high  reputation  for  teaching  ability  acquired  in  the  Toledo 
schools,  and  strong  power  of  organization,  he  entered  at  once  upon 
the  accurate  and  practical  grading  of  the  schools,  bringing  the  work 
within  a  reasonable  number  of  years  and  elevating  the  standard  to 
the  highest  practical  level.  From  this  time  the  growth  of  the 
schools  in  numbers  and  popularity  was  rapid  and  steady. 

"In  1866  the  board  purchased  part  of  the  present  site  of  the 
Hoagland  school  and  built  thereon  a  plain  one-story  frame  build- 
ing of  three  rooms,  seating  when  closely  filled  some  two  hundred 
pupils.  For  both  site  and  building  they  issued  warrants,  which  was 
all  they  could  do.  Two  rooms  were  opened  in  September,  but  it 
soon  became  necessary  to1  open  the  third.  This  building  has,  at 
various  times,  been  enlarged  and  modified  so  that  now  it  contains 
thirteen  class  rooms,  all  full.  The  growth  of  the  population  in  that 
part  of  the  city,  and  the  condition  of  the  building  itself,  the  small 
size  and  comparatively  inconvenient  character  of  the  room,  must  in 
the  near  future  make  the  erection  of  a  new  and  improved  building 
a  positive  necessity. 

"In  1867  the  board  purchased  the  sites  of  the  present  High, 
Hanna  and  Washington  schools,  and  petitioned  the  city  council  to 
issue  bonds  for  the  payment  of  these  sites,  and  the  erection  of  the 
necessary  buildings  thereon,  which  petition  was  granted  and  the 
bonds  issued. 

"They  immediately  contracted  with  Messrs.  Cochrane,  Humph- 
rey &  Company  for  the  erection  of  the  High  and  the  Washington 
schools.  Both  buildings  were  furnished  and  opened  for  occupancy 
September  7th  of  that  year.  In  the  year  1877  a  large  addition  was 
made  to  the  High  school  building,  and  the  older  part  greatly  modi- 


*Dr.  Smart  died  several  years  ago.— Ed. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,    INDIANA.  233 

fied.  In  1894  still  further  modifications  were  made  in  it  to  meet 
the  rapidly  growing  demand  for  additional  space.  Notwithstand- 
ing all  this  the  rapid  growth  of  the  classes  promoted  from  the 
grammar  schools  will  demand  greatly  increased  accommodations, 
which  must  be  met  in  the  very  near  future. 

"The  Washington  school  was  also  opened  in  September,  1868, 
and  was  originally  a  four-room  building.  In  the  year  1877  its  in- 
ternal arrangements  were  entirely  reconstructed,  changing  it  to  an 
eight-room  building.  In  1884  so  rapid  had  become  the  growth  of 
the  western  part  of  the  city  that  it  became  necessary  to  make  an 
addition  of  four  rooms,  increasing  the  accommodation  to  twelve 
rooms  in  all  and  all  required. 

"In  1869  the  Hanna  school,  a  four-room  building  of  the  same 
plan  as  the  Washington  school,  was  built  and  one  room  occupied. 
In  1877  ^  was  also  transformed  into  an  eight-room  building,  and 
in  1882,  to  meet  the  rapid  growth  in  that  part  of  the  city,  four 
more  rooms  were  added,  all  now  in  use. 

"In  1870  the  small  frame  building  which  had  stood  upon  the 
site  of  the  high  school,  and  had  been  moved  to  lots  on  the  north- 
west corner  of  Jefferson  and  Harmer  streets,  bought  from  Mr. 
Horace  Hanna,  was  opened  as  the  Harmer  school  with  one  teacher. 
In  the  next  year  two  rooms  were  added  and  occupied.  But  the  de- 
mands for  more  room  grew  so  rapidly  that  in  1876  the  buildings 
were  sold  and  removed  and  an  eight-room  brick  building  erected 
on  the  site.  In  1893  it  became  necessary  to  build  a  four- room  addi- 
tion, making  the  whole  a  twelve-room  house. 

"In  1 87 1  the  villages  of  Bowserville  and  Bloomingdale  were 
added  to  the  city,  and  the  school  in  the  one-room  frame  building 
opened  in  September.  The  next  year  it  became  necessary  to  add 
two  rooms  to  the  building,  and  in  1875  the  board  was  compelled  to 
buy  an  additional  lot,  sell  the  frame  building  and  erect  a  large  and 
substantial  eight-room  brick,  to  which,  in  1884,  a  four- room  addi- 
tion was  made,  all  in  use. 

"In  1874  small  districts  were  added  to  the  city  on  the  north, 
east  and  south,  each  having  a  small  school  building,  which  the 
board  immediately  occupied.  They  also  rented  another  small  frame 
building  on  the  north  for  a  German  school.     These  districts,  with 


234  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER     BASIN. 

the  exception  of  that  on  the  north,  have  since  been  returned  to  the 
respective  townships  to  which  they  formerly  belonged 

"But  all  these  improvements  and  additions  very  soon  proved 
inadequate  to  the  rapid  growth  of  the  school  population,  and  in 
1886  the  board  was  compelled  to  purchase  sites  for  buildings  on  the 
corner  of  Boone  and  Fry  streets  in  the  west,  on  the  corner  of 
Creighton  and  Holton  avenues  on  the  southeast  and  on  the  corner 
of  West  DeWald  and  Miner  streets  on  the  south,  and  erected  there- 
on the  Nebraska  and  the  Holton  Avenue  schools,  each  two-room 
brick  buildings,  and  the  Miner  Street  school,  a  four-room  brick. 
The  construction  of  these  buildings  was  such  that  they  could  be  en- 
larged and  receive  second  stories  without  the  destruction  of  the 
roofs,  and  at  comparatively  small  cost. 

"In  1888,  to  relieve  the  wants  of  the  extreme  eastern  portion  of 
the  city,  the  board  purchased  handsome  lots  from  Judge  McCulloch 
on  the  corner  of  McCulloch  and  Eliza  streets  and  erected  thereon 
a  substantial  four-room  brick,  opening  two  rooms  in  January,  1889. 
All  the  rooms  are  now  full. 

"In  1 89 1  the  overcrowded  condition  of  the  Hoagland  and 
Bloomingdale  schools  compelled  the  board  to  purchase  sites  on  the 
corner  of  Clinton  and  Pontiac  streets,  on  which  they  built  the  Ham- 
ilton school,  a  four-room  brick,  and  on  the  corner  of  Franklin  ave- 
nue and  Huffman  street,  on  which  they  built  the  Franklin  school, 
similar  to  the  Hamilton  school.  The  Hamilton  school  is  all  occu- 
pied, and  only  one  room  of  the  Franklin  unoccupied. 

"In  1 89 1  two  rooms  were  added  to  the  Holton  Avenue  school, 
making  it  a  four-room  building,  which  is  already  overcrowded. 

"In  1893  the  Nebraska  school  was  also  enlarged  by  two  addi- 
tional rooms,  and  all  four  are  filled,  even  beyond  a  healthy  point. 
At  the  same  time  a  second  story  was  put  upon  the  Miner  Street 
school,  making  it  an  eight-room  building,  all  the  rooms  being  now 
full. 

"In  February,  1894,  the  Clay  school,  the  first  house  built  for  the 
city  schools,  was  destroyed  by  fire.  On  the  same  site  the  board 
have  erected  a  twelve-room  brick  building,  which  we  regard  in  its 
construction,  arrangements  and  appliances,  as  a  truly  model  build- 
ing, and  one  erected  at  an  exceptionally  low  cost,  when  its  full 
character  is  considered.    All  the  rooms  are  fully  occupied. 


ALLEN   COUNTY,    INDIANA.  235 

"Fully  recognizing  the  fact  that  the  character  of  the  school  de- 
pends very  largely  upon  the  character  of  the  teachers,  in  1867  Mr. 
Smart,  under  the  direction  of  the  board,  established  a  training 
school  for  the  proper  education  of  teachers.  As  a  rule,  graduation 
from  the  high  school  was  a  necessary  precedent  to'  admission  to  the 
school.  Thorough  education  in  pedagogical  principles  and  methods, 
and  accurate  practice  in  the  school  room,  under  strong,  well-quali- 
fied teachers,  was  the  work  of  this  school.  The  wisdom  of  the 
measure  was  rapidly  manifested  in  the  higher  ability  of  the  teach- 
ers, the  broader,  more  accurate  and  more  solid  character  of  their 
work  and  in  the  rapidly  growing  reputation  of  the  schools  amongst 
prominent  educators.  In  1877  the  instruction  in  this  school  was 
limited  to  the  primary  grade,  another  being  opened  for  instruction 
in  the  higher  grades.  This  latter  school  was  continued 
for  two  years  only,  and  the.  former  until  June,  1886,  when,  for 
pressing  reasons  then  existing,  the  board  discontinued  it  for  the 
time  being.  So  great  were  the  advantages  of  the  school  in  many 
ways  that  its  reorganization  is  greatly  to  be  desired. 

"Having  been  elected  state  superintendent  of  public  instruction 
in  October,  1874,  Mr.  Smart  resigned  his  position  as  superintend- 
ent of  the  city  schools  in  the  early  part  of  March,  1875,  and  was 
succeeded  by  John  S.  Irwin,  who  had  for  ten  years  been  a  member 
of  the  board  of  trustees. 

"The  growth,  prosperity  and  character  of  the  schools  have  been 
largely  influenced  by  the  skill  and  labor  of  Mr.  Smart.  Elected 
when  a  man  young  for  the  position,  he  brought  to  the  work  abili- 
ties of  a  high  order,  energy  and  perseverance  that  knew  no  tiring 
or  defeat,  knowledge  of  his  profession,  theoretical  and  practical, 
much  beyond  his  years,  and  out  of  virtual  chaos  elaborated  a  system 
well  arranged,  with  courses  of  study  well  adapted  to  the  wants  of 
the  community,  and  productive  of  results  valuable  to  the  pupils, 
serviceable  to  the  city  and  honorable  alike  to  the  superintendent  and 
teachers. 

"In  1877  tne  'colored  question,'  which  had  caused  much 
anxiety  and  trouble,  and  serious  expense,  was  satisfactorily  settled 
by  placing  the  colored  children  in  the  regular  schools,  grades  and 
districts  for  which  their  advancement  fitted  them,  and  they  are  now 


. 


236  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

to  be  found  doing  satisfactory  work  in  every  grade  from  the  baby 
room  to1  the  high  school. 

"In  March,  1878,  certain  movements  in  the  legislature,  un- 
friendly to  high  school  interests,  caused  the  board  to  change  the 
name  of  'High  School'  to  that  of  'Central  Grammar  School.'  The 
old  name,  while  neither  being  objectionable  in  itself  nor  giving  ad- 
ditional strength  to  the  schools,  at  that  time  excited  useless  but  very 
unpleasant  opposition.  The  change  of  name  without  any  lowering 
of  the  standard  of  education,  caused  a  closer  and  more  sensible  ex- 
amination of  the  subject,  and  it  being  found  that  in  the  five  states 
erected  from  the  Northwest  Territory  school  authorities  were  fully 
empowered  to  teach  any  study,  however  high,  for  which  the  pupil 
was  prepared,  and  the  board  had  the  money  to  pay,  the  opposition 
to  high  schools  and  high  school  work  has  died  out,  and  last  year 
the  name  of  High  School  was  restored  by  the  board.  At  no  time 
has  the  standard  of  the  work  required  been  in  any  manner  or  degree 
lessened,  nor  its  extent  lessened.  The  course  of  study,  while  it  is  re- 
garded by  no  means  faultless,  has  proved  itself  valuable  by  the  suc- 
cess of  our  graduates  both  in  higher  institutions  of  learning  and  in 
the  professional  and  business  walks  of  life.  It  is  the  aim  of  all  in 
charge  not  to  weaken  the  schools,  but  rather  to<  strengthen  them, 
and  that  more  by  the  accurate  and  thorough  prosecution  of  a 
few  solid,  necessary  and  valuable  branches,  than  by  the  skimming 
of  the  whole  field  of  art,  literature  and  science." 

In  July,  1896,  Justin  N.  Study  was  appointed  superintendent  of 
schools  and  assumed  the  duties  of  his  office  August  1st. 

The  course  of  study  was  rearranged  in  accordance  with  the 
ideas  of  the  "new  education" ;  a  system  of  semi-annual  promotions 
was  adopted,  and  various  other  steps  taken  to  bring  the  school  sys- 
tem more  nearly  abreast  the  current  of  educational  progress. 

MUSIC   AND  READING. 

The  special  branches  of  music  and  reading,  which  had  for  some, 
years  been  discontinued  as  subjects  of  special  instruction,  were  re- 
established and  supervisors  appointed. 

William  Miles  was  appointed  as  supervisor  of  music  and  has 
held  the  position  up  to  the  present  time.     The  study  of  music  is 


ALLEN    COUNTY,    INDIANA.  237 

reorganized  as  a  highly  valuable  part  of  the  public  school  curricu- 
lum and  the  supervisor  has  succeeded  in  establishing  a  taste  for 
good  music  among  the  pupils  and  the  schools  have  reached  a  high 
degree  of  efficiency  in  execution. 

Of  all  branches  embraced  in  the  common  school  curriculum 
reading  is  by  far  the  most  important.  To  be  able  to  gather  the 
thought  from  the  printed  page  is  an  absolute  necessity  to  the  mas- 
tery of  all  the  remainder  of  the  course  of  study.  As  a  rule  the 
pupil  who  reads  well  does  well  in  his  other  studies,  and  as  a  rule 
the  poor  reader  is  poor  in  his  geography,  arithmetic,  grammar  and 
other  studies.  To  read  well  orally  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  ac- 
complishments, as  unfortunately  it  is  also  one  of  the  rarest.  Read- 
ing is  of  such  vital  importance  that  it  was  deemed  wise  by  our 
school  authorities  to  put  it  under  the  supervision  of  a  special  teach- 
er of  the  subject.  From  1896  to  1900  the  subject  was  under  the 
supervision  of  Miss  Mary  E.  Stephens,  whose  training  and  per- 
sonality rendered  her  particularly  successful  in  bringing  about  a 
great  advance  in  the  reading  work  of  the  schools.  To  the  regret 
of  all  connected  with  the  schools,  Miss  Stephens  severed  her  con- 
nection with  the  schools  at  the  close  of  the  school  year  of  1900- 
190 1.  The  vacancy  so>  caused  was  filled  by  the  appointment  of  Mrs. 
Jennie  Ray  Ormsby,  who  brought  to  the  work  a  wide  and  success- 
ful experience  as  a  special  teacher  of  reading  in  private  work.  But 
at  the  end  of  a  very  useful  year  Mrs.  Ormsby  decided  to  re-en- 
gage in  independent  work.  The  place  has  not  been  filled  as  yet, 
the  duties  thereof  in  the  primary  grades  having  been  delegated  to 
the  primary  supervisor.  It  is  probable  as  well  as  desirable  that  the 
supervisorship  of  reading  shall  be  filled  again  at  an  early  date. 

DRAWING. 

Fort  Wayne  was  one  of  the  first  cities  in  Indiana,  if  not  the 
first,  to  recognize  the  value  of  drawing  as  a  part  of  common  school 
education,  and  for  many  years  a  special  teacher  of  drawing  was 
employed  in  the  schools.  But  the  employment  of  a  special  teacher 
was  discontinued  and  the  study  dropped.  That  this  was  a  great 
loss  to  the  school  needs  no  argument.  In  1898  the  board  of 
trustees  wisely  decided    to    re-introduce    this  eminently  practical 


238  THE   MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

branch  of  instruction  into  the  schools,  and  Miss  Alice  E.  Hall  was 
elected  as  special  teacher  and  supervisor  of  drawing.  Miss  Hall 
had  received  a  much  wider  art  training  than  the  majority  of  teach- 
ers of  drawing  in  public  school  work,  and  brought  to  the  work  not 
only  wide  knowledge  of  the  subject,  but  also  an  enthusiasm  that 
was  an  inspiration  alike  to  teacher  and  pupil.  The  time  that  had 
elapsed  since  drawing  had  been  taught  in  the  public  schools  made 
it  necessary  to  begin  again  with  the  fundamentals  with  teachers  as 
well  as  pupils.  The  department  has  prospered  and  the  results  of 
the  work  as  evidenced  in  the  various  exhibits  of  work  made  from 
time  to  time  have  received  much  merited  praise. 

A  special  teacher  of  free-hand  drawing  is  also  employed  in  the 
high  school  and  a  course  of  four  years  in  mechanical  drawing  in 
connection  with  the  manual  training  work  established  under  direc- 
tion of  the  teachers  of  the  manual  training  department. 

PHYSICAL    CULTURE. 

In  1902  it  was  decided  to  add  a  special  instructor  in  physical 
culture,  and  Dr.  Robert  Nohr  was  chosen  for  the  position.  Phys- 
ical culture  work  had  been  done  for  some  years  under  the  direction 
of  the  special  teacher  of  reading,  but  it  was  felt  that  the  physical 
training  of  the  pupils  was  of  such  great  importance  that  a  teacher 
was  needed  to  give  all  his  time  to  the  subject.  The  success  of  the 
department  has  justified  entirely  the  establishment  of  a  special  de- 
partment in  the  schools. 

Reference  is  made  to  these  so-called  special  branches  to  show 
that  the  city  schools  of  Fort  Wayne  are  not  behind  other  progres- 
sive schools  in  acknowledging  the  value  of  these  studies  and  pro- 
viding special  instructors  for  them. 

TRAINING  SCHOOL   FOR   TEACHERS. 

In  1897  the  City  Training  School,  which  had  been  discontinued 
in  1886,  was  re-established  to  give  an  opportunity  to  graduates  of 
the  high  school  and  those  having  an  equivalent  education  to>  pre- 
pare for  work  as  teachers  in  the  elementary  schools.  Miss  Jessie 
B.  Montgomery,  a  graduate  of  the  Indiana  State  Normal,  was  ap- 


ALLEN    COUNTY,    INDIANA.  239 

pointed  as  principal  of  the  school.  At  the  time  of  her  appointment 
she  was  a  critic  teacher  in  the  Michigan  State  Normal  at  Ypsilanti. 
Miss  Montgomery  was  principal  of  the  school  for  four  years  and 
placed  the  work  upon  a  high  plane  of  efficiency.  In  1902  she  re- 
signed and  was  succeeded  by  Miss  Flora  Wilber,  a  graduate  of  the 
Michigan  State  Normal,  and  also  the  Oswego  (New  York)  Training 
School.  The  school  has  maintained  its  high  standing  under  Miss 
Wilber' s  care,  and  is  furnishing  to  the  public  schools  a  corps  of 
teachers  well  trained  and  equipped  and  imbued  with  high  ideals  of 
the  teacher's  work. 

PRIMARY  SUPERVISOR. 

For  a  number  of  years  preceding  the  re-establishment  of  the 
training  school  appointment  to  positions  in  the  grades,   for  most 
part,  had  been  made  from  the  ranks  of  the  graduates  of  the  high 
school.    These  young  women  had  entered  school  work  with  no  pro- 
fessional training  whatever.     The  art  of  teaching  had  to  be  ac- 
quired by  experiment  upon  the  pupils  committed  to  their  care.     A 
corps  of  teachers  made  up  mostly  of  untrained  teachers  needs  close 
and  skillful  supervision.     By   1899    the    increase  in  the  teaching 
force  had  brought  it  to  the  point  where  the  general  superintendent 
was  utterly  unable  to  give  the  attention  to  the  individual  teacher 
that  was  required  in  so  many  cases,  and  it  was  deemed  advisable  to 
employ  some  assistance.     It  was  determined  to  employ  some  one 
who  should  be  competent,  by  professional  training  and  by  experi- 
ence, to  give  to  the  teachers  in  the  primary  grades  some  at  least  of 
that  training  which  is  given  in  the  best  normal  schools,  and  also 
supervise  the  instruction  in  those  grades.     Miss  Annie  Klingen- 
smith,  a  graduate  of  the  State  Normal  School  at  Indiana,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  also  a  graduate  of  the  Oswego  (New  York)  Training 
School,  and  fitted  by  an  extended  experience  for  the  duties  of  super- 
vision, was  selected  for  the  position,  and  for  six  years  devoted  her 
time  to  the  instruction  of  the  primary  teachers  and  the  supervision 
of  their  work,  with  the  most  beneficial  results.    In  1905  Miss  Kling- 
ensmith  resigned  to  accept  a  like  position  in  Paterson,  New  Jersey, 
and  Miss  Gail  Calmerton,  a  graduate  of  the  Oshkosh  (Wisconsin) 


240  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

Normal,  and  also  of  Chicago  University,  was  elected  as  her  suc- 
cessor. 

Teachers  without  professional  training  are  no  longer  selected 
for  positions  in  the  elementary  schools,  but  the  constant  influx  of 
young  teachers  in  the  primary  grades  renders  the  services  of  a 
supervisor  of  primary  work  absolutely  indispensable  to  good  re- 
sults, as  even  a  training  school  graduate  needs  much  aid  and  advice 
during  the  early  years  of  her  service. 

THE   KINDERGARTEN. 

The  kindergarten  at  one  time  was  a  part  of  the  school  system, 
but  was  discontinued.  Miss  Norma  Allen  was  employed  in  1899  to 
open  a  kindergarten  in  one  of  the  rooms  of  the  new  Hoagland 
school  building.  This  proved  so  popular  and  the  work  so  beneficial 
that  the  next  year  an  additional  kindergarten  was  opened  in  the 
Bloomingdale  school,  both  kindergartens  being  under  the  super- 
vision of  Miss  Allen.  In  the  year  1901-02  two  more  kindergartens 
were  opened,  one  in  the  Hanna  school  and  one  in  the  Nebraska 
school.  At  the  present  time  six  kindergartens  are  open  to  the  pub- 
lic. Miss  Allen  was  supervisor  of  kindergarten  work  until  her 
death,  since  which  time  the  kindergarten  instruction  has  been  under 
the  general  care  of  the  superintendent  and  the  supervisor  of  primary 
instruction. 


It  is  impossible  to  give  due  credit  to  all  who  have  served  as  ex- 
ecutive officers  and  principals  of  buildings  for  their  invaluable  serv- 
ices in  bringing  the  public  school  system  of  Fort  Wayne  up  to  its 
high  standing  among  city  school  systems.  Many  have  built  the 
best  years  of  their  lives  into  the  schools,  and  have  done  so  with  a 
devotion  to  duty  and  a  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  that  no  word  of  praise 
or  commendation  can  adequately  recognize.  The  recognition  of 
their  services  must  ever  be  in  the  grateful  remembrances  of  those 
who  have  profited  by  their  toil. 

Since  1865  there  have  been  but  three  superintendents  of 
schools,  as  follows:     James  H.  Smart,  1865-1875;  John  S.  Irwin, 


ALLEN    COUNTY,    INDIANA.  241 

1 875- 1 896;  Justin  N.  Study,   1896 — .     Dr.  Smart  and  Dr.  Irwin 

have  both  passed  to  their  reward  in  the  great  beyond. 

The  following  list  of  trustees  of    the  public  schools  of  Fort 

Wayne  since  1853  embraces  many  names    of    state  and  national 
prominence : 

When  Served 

Trustees.  Elected.  Until.  Served. 

Hugh    MeCulloch 1853  1854  1    year. 

Charles    Case :  u 1853  1854  1      " 

William    Stewart 1853  1854  1      " 

James    Humphrey 1854  1857  3%  " 

Henry  Sharp 1854  1855  1      " 

Charles  G.  French 1854  1856  2      " 

William  S.  Smith 1855  1856  1      " 

Frank  P.  Randall 1856  1856  % " 

Pliny    Hoagland 1856  1856  y2 " 

John  M.  Miller 1856  1857  y2 " 

Charles   F.   Sturgis 1856  1858  1%  " 

William     Rockhill 1857  1859  2      " 

William  H.  Link 1857  1857  %  " 

James    Humphrey ,.  1857  1859  1% " 

Thomas    Tigar 1858  1861  3     " 

Wiliam    Edsall 1858  1859  1      " 

Charles  G.  French 1858  1859  1      " 

Samuel    Edsall 1859  1861  2      u 

Charles  E.  Sturgis 1859  1861  2      " 

Oliver  P.  Morgan 1859  1863  4      " 

Robert  E.  Fleming 1859  1861  2      " 

William  Rockhill 1861  1863  2      " 

James  H.  Robinson 1861  1863  2      " 

John    C.    Davis 1861  1863  2      " 

Orin  D.  Hurd 1861  1863  2      " 

Samuel    Edsall 1863  1863  % M 

A.    Martin , 1863  1863  %" 

Christian  Orff 1863  1865  2      " 

Charles   E.    Sturgis 1863  1865  2      M 

Ochmig   Bird 1863  1865  2      " 

Emanuel     Bostick 1863  1865  1%  " 

Virgil  M.  Kimball 1863  1865  1%  " 

Oliver  P.  Morgan 1865  1873  8      " 

John  S.  Irwin 1865  1875  10      " 

Edward    Slocum 1865  1869  3% " 

Pliny    Hoagland 1869  1880  10y2  " 

Alfred  P.  Edgerton 1873  1888  15      " 

Oliver  P.  Morgan 1875  1896  21      " 

Max    Nirdlinger 1880  1886  6      " 

John  M.   Moritz 1886  1895  9      " 

16 


1897 

9 

1898 

3 

1899 

3 

1900 

3 

1901 

3 

1906 

6 

1903 

3 

1904 

3 

242  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

A.  Ely  Hoffman 1888  1897  9   years 

Samuel   M.  Foster 1895 

William  P.  Cooper 1896 

Andrew  J.   Boswell 1897 

George  F.  Felts 1898 

Allen    Hamilton 1899 

W.  W.   Rockhill 1900 

Eugene  B.  Smith 1901 

Charles  S.  Bash 1903  

William  O.  Gross 1904  

Ernest  W.  Cook 1905  

SCHOOL  ACCOMMODATIONS. 

Within  the  school  year  of  1896-7  the  Lakeside  and  the  South 
Wayne  buildings,  both  fine  structures,  were  completed  and  occu- 
pied. In  1898  four  rooms  were  added  to  the  Holton  Avenue 
school,  and  an  addition  of  four  rooms  built  to  the  old  high  school. 
In  1899  the  new  Hoagland  school,  an  elegant  twelve-room  build- 
ing, was  erected  in  place  of  the  old  frame  school  building.  The 
next  year  four  rooms  were  added  to  the  Hamilton  school,  and  in 
1 90 1  four  rooms  were  added  to  the  Nebraska  school,  making  forty 
school  rooms  added  in  the  years  from  1896  to  190 1. 

In  1 90 1  steps  were  taken  looking  to  the  erection  of  a  new  high 
school  building  and  in  September,  1904,  the  high  school  was  moved 
into  the  most  elegant  and  best  equipped  high  school  building  in  the 
state.  The  new  high  school,  besides  the  regular  curriculum  of  the 
high  school,  provides  for  a  full  four  years'  course  in  manual  train- 
ing for  boys,  as  also  courses  of  domestic  science  for  girls,  and  now 
employs  a  corps  of  teachers  twenty-two  in  number,  and  has  an  en- 
rollment of  six  hundred  pupils. 

In  1904  the  board  decided  to  replace  the  Jefferson  and  the 
Hanna  school  buildings  with  buildings  of  modern  type,  both  being 
antiquated  and  inconvenient,  and  the  Hanna  having  become  espe- 
cially objectionable  as  a  school  on  account  of  its  proximity  to  noise- 
producing  industries.  Additional  ground  was  secured  at  the  Jef- 
ferson school  site  and  a  site  purchased  for  the  new  Hanna  building 
at  the  corner  of  Williams  and  Lafayette  streets. 

Plans  were  prepared  and  contracts  let  in  the  summer  of  1905 
for  the  construction  of  elegant  modern  school  buildings  of  fourteen 


ALLEN   COUNTY,   INDIANA.  243 

rooms  each,  at  the  respective  sites.  These  should  be  ready  for  oc- 
cupancy at  the  beginning  of  the  school  year  of  1906-07,  and  will 
afford  a  much  needed  relief  to  the  school  system.  The  old  high 
school  building  is  being  used  by  the  Jefferson  school  during  the  con- 
struction of  the  new  school  building.  With  the  completion  of  these 
two  ward  schools,  the  school  city  will  have  fifteen  ward  schools  and 
the  high  school,  besides  the  old  high  school  building.  The  school 
property  is  valued  at  more  than  one  million  of  dollars. 

INCREASE  IN  SCHOOLS. 

The  city  school  system  employed  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight 
teachers  in  1895,  and  in  1905  one  hundred  and  eighty-two  teachers 
are  employed,  with  the  certainty  that  still  more  will  be  added  be- 
fore the  close  of  the  school  year  of  1905-06.  The  enrollment  in  the 
schools  for  the  school  year  ending  June,  1905,  was  six  thousand  one 
hundred  and  sixty-two,  and  there  was  expended  for  salaries  of 
teachers,  $110,221.05;  other  school  expenses,  $61,170.59;  making 
a  total  of  $171,391.64. 

THE  PAROCHIAL  SCHOOLS  AND  OTHER  SCHOOLS. 

The  parochial  schools  of  the  Catholic  and  German  Lutheran 
churches  provide  educational  advantages  for  about  three  thousand 
eight  hundred  pupils,  and  Fort  Wayne  is  also  the  seat  of  Concordia 
College,  under  control  of  the  Lutheran  synod.  This  is  a  prosper- 
ous institution  and  within  the  last  year  has  added  extensively  to  its 
buildings  and  equipments.  Several  business  colleges  furnish  in- 
struction in  commercial  studies  to  those  seeking  to  qualify  them- 
selves for  business  life. 


244  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 


CHAPTER  IX 


AGRICULTURE  AND  AGRICULTURAL  SOCIETIES. 


BY  HON.    GEORGE  V.   KELL. 


In  treating  on  the  subject  of  agriculture  in  Allen  county  it  is 
necessary  to  note  the  conditions  which  confronted  the  first  settlers, 
who  attempted  to  gain  a  livelihood,  in  part  at  least,  by  the  tillage 
of  the  soil.  Prior  to  the  first  settlement  of  the  white  men  within 
her  borders  the  Indians  are  known  to  have  planted  and  cultivated 
in  a  very  primitive  manner  small  patches  of  corn,  but  living  largely 
on  fish  and  game,  as  they  did,  their  need  for  the  cereals  was  indeed 
small.  In  about  the  years  1823-4  the  first  white  settlements  were 
made  in  Wayne  and  Adams  townships,  and  marked  the  beginning 
of  the  settlement  of  the  county  outside  of  what  was  then  the  vil- 
lage of  Fort  Wayne.  The  entire  county  which  was  not  submerged 
with  water  was  covered  with  a  huge  growth  of  timber,  consisting 
of  oak,  hickory,  poplar,  walnut,  beech,  sugar,  ash,  elm  and  other 
varieties.  The  underbrush  or  small  growth  was  in  many  places 
destroyed  by  fires  started  by  the  Indians. 

The  first  work  of  the  pioneer  farmer  was  to  provide  a  shelter 
for  his  household.  This  was  rudely  constructed  out  of  logs  of  a 
convenient  size,  of  which  there  was  an  abundance,  and  in  fact  no 
other  material  was  available.  The  first  cabins  did  not  afford  a 
glass  window,  nor  were  any  nails  used  in  their  construction.     The 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  245 

roof  was  made  of  clapboards,  split  by  hand  and  held  in  place  on  the 
roof  by  round  logs  laid  on  each  tier  of  boards.  The  floor  was 
either  mother  earth  or  made  of  puncheons,  split  out  of  timber,  and 
in  their  time  answered  a  good  purpose.  The  door,  if  there  was  one, 
was  made  of  the  same  material  and  hung  on  heavy  wooden  hinges ; 
the  fastening  was  a  wooden  latch;  locks  there  were  none;  there 
were  no  burglars,  for  there  was  nothing  to  steal.  Cooking  stoves 
were  not  yet  in  use,  but  instead  a  huge  fireplace  in  one  end  of  the 
cabin,  made  of  sticks  for  a  framework,  covered  with  mortar  made 
of  clay.  This,  with  a  flat  stone  or  clay  hearth,  afforded  ample  fa- 
cilities for  the  practice  of  the  culinary  art  as  carried  on  by  the  first 
settlers  of  what  is  now  one  of  the  best  agricultural  counties  in  the 
state.  It  also  afforded  a  place  where  one  could  warm  one  side  of  his 
person  at  a  time;  of  course  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  one  from 
turning  around  and  warming  the  other  side  except  that  the  afore- 
said warmed  side  would  perceptibly  cool  off  in  the  operation. 

The  shelter  for  the  family  provided  for,  the  pioneer  farmer 
must  next  turn  his  attention  to  clearing  the  ground  and  prepare  it 
for  planting.  This  was  no  easy  task.  The  principal  tool  was  the 
ax;  saws  for  cutting  timber  had  not  come  into  general  use.  It  is 
a  noteworthy  fact  the  first  settlers  were  excellent  axmen,  an  art 
which  at  the  present  time  is  almost  lost.  The  undergrowth  and 
smaller  timber  were  felled  and  burned  and  the  logrollings  were  nota- 
ble gatherings  in  the  early  days.  A  yoke  of  oxen  (horses  were  not 
much  in  use),  a  half-dozen  stalwart  pioneers  and  a  gallon  jug  of 
corn  whisky  completed  the  outfit  that  began  at  least  the  subjuga- 
tion of  the  forest  and  made  primitive  agriculture  possible.  It  was 
not  the  custom  to  remove  all  the  timber  at  one  time;  many  of  the 
larger  trees  were  girdled  and  left  standing,  and  afterwards  as  op- 
portunity afforded  were  cut  down  and  burned.  The  process  of 
clearing  the  land  was  a  slow  one,  and  without  the  brawn  and  en- 
ergy which  was  a  strong  characteristic  of  the  frontiersman,  would 
indeed  have  seemed  a  Herculean  task. 

The  first  crops  grown  were  corn  and  potatoes.  Later  on  wheat 
was  added  to  the  list.  The  implements  of  agriculture  were  indeed 
primitive.  The  hoe  was  the  most  important  tool  in  use,  and  was 
not  much  like  the  hoe  of  the  present  day.  It  was  forged  by  hand 
and  was  very  heavy.    The  author  of  "The  Man  and  the  Hoe"  must 


246  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

have  had  in  mind  one  of  the  hoes  which  was  first  used  for  cutting 
the  roots  and  digging  up  the  soil  in  Allen  county.  But  little  metal 
was  used  in  constructing  the  plows  then  in  use.  An  iron  or  steel 
share,  with  a  wooden  moldboard ;  an  A-shaped  harrow,  with  iron  or 
wooden  teeth ;  a  yoke  of  oxen  and  a  cart  or  sled,  made  an  outfit  of 
which  the  owner  might  feel  justly  proud.  The  work  of  subduing 
the  primitive  forest  was  indeed  one  of  magnitude,  and  of  necessity 
must  extend  over  a  long  period  of  time,  and  to  us  of  the  present 
day  who  lack  the  patience  and  persevering  energy  and  who  by  en- 
vironment are  wont  to  see  every  enterprise  move  with  the  speed 
of  steam  or  electricity,  would  indeed  be  discouraging ;  and  were  the 
young  men  of  today  placed  under  the  same  conditions  as  were  our 
pioneer  farmers,  I  very  much  fear  the  result  would  not  be  the  same. 
Some  of  our  sister  states  on  the  west  as  well  as  some  of  the  western 
counties  in  our  own  state  presented  no  such  obstacles  to  rapid  prog- 
ress as  were  found  in  Allen  county.  Being  as  they  were  without 
timber,  and  naturally  well  drained,  they  were  easily  and  quickly 
brought  under  cultivation. 

Besides  subduing  the  forests,  it  was  necessary  to  cut  out  roads, 
for  at  this  time  only  Indian  trails,  which  were  not  adapted  to  travel 
by  team  and  wagon,  were  in  use.  Many  of  Allen  county's  pioneer 
farmers  were  compelled  to  go>  ahead  with  the  ax  and  cut  out  a  road, 
while  the  wife  came  on  with  the  ox-cart  which  contained  the  chil- 
dren and  household  goods.  The  progress  was  slow,  often  not  cov- 
ering more  than  one  or  two  miles  a  day.  The  swamps  and  lowlands 
were  impassable,  and  the  traveler  had  to  detour  around  them,  often 
making  the  distance  much  longer.  The  streams  must  be  forded, 
and  this  could  only  be  done  in  the  drier  part  of  the  year.  Ferries 
were  early  in  use  on  some  of  the  larger  streams,  and  it  became  ap- 
parent that  in  order  to  protect  the  public  against  exorbitant  charges, 
as  well  as  to  insure  the  safety  of  the  travelers,  certain  restrictions 
must  be  enforced.  The  county  board  therefore  granted  a  license 
to  Zenas  Henderson  &  Company  to  keep  a  ferry  across  the  St. 
Mary's  river,  near  the  old  fort.  This  is  said  to  be  the  first  ferry  in 
the  county  established  by  law.  Other  ferries  were  kept  where  the 
travel  demanded  them.  The  first  road  laid  out  in  Allen  county  was 
the  Winchester  state  road,  running  south  from  Fort  Wayne.  This 
was  in  the  year  1824.    The  Goshen  road,  running  north  from  Fort 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  247 

Wayne,  was  opened  in  1841  and  at  about  the  same  time  the  Bluff- 
ton  and  Yellow  River  roads  were  opened.  Rapidly  following  this, 
the  Lima,  the  Piqua  and  the  Huntington  roads  were  also  opened. 
All  of  these  roads  had  for  their  central  terminus  Fort  Wayne,  the 
citizens  of  which,  by  private  subscription,  aided  in  building  them. 
The  farmers  also  did  their  share  either  by  subscription  or  labor  do- 
nated. As  Fort  Wayne  was  early  the  market  for  farm  produce  not 
only  of  Allen  county,  but  of  northern  Indiana,  as  well  as  southern 
Michigan,  it  was  but  natural  that  all  should  be  interested  in  the 
highways  leading  thereto.  But  to  the  farmers  themselves  was  left 
the  task  of  opening  roads  from  one  settlement  to  another.  And 
when  we  compare  the  present  system  of  public  highways,  which 
check  our  county  throughout  her  borders,  made  and  kept  in  repair 
by  public  taxation,  we  have  indeed  reason  to  be  proud  of  our 
achievements.  However,  this  is  not  the  work  of  a  day  or  a  year, 
but  covers  a  period  of  upwards  of  eighty  years,  or  the  lifetime  of 
our  oldest  citizen. 

In  the  early  settlement  of  the  county,  agriculture  was  carried 
on,  not  so  much  as  a  means  for  pecuniary  profit,  as  for  the  purpose 
of  getting  a  living  for  the  farmer  and  his  family.  There  was  not 
much  incentive  to  produce  rnore  than  the  family  could  consume,  for 
markets  for  the  surplus  were  hard  to  find.  While  the  constantly 
arriving  new  settlers  were  in  need  of  supplies,  and  the  balance  could 
be  disposed  of  in  Fort  Wayne  in  the  way  of  barter  and  trade,  it  was 
not  until  1848,  when  the  Wabash  and  Erie  Canal  was  opened  for 
traffic,  that  the  city  assumed  any  importance  as  a  market  center. 
But  this  event  opened  an  era  of  prosperity  to  agriculture  not  before 
known  in  the  county.  Since  Fort  Wayne  shared  in  the  same,  this 
date  may  be  said  to  mark  the  beginning  of  the  growth  and  great- 
ness of  the  city. 

This  also  was  a  great  incentive  to  road  building.  Adjoining 
counties  took  up  the  work  and  gave  valuable  assistance.  Private 
capital  built  toll  roads,  made  of  plank,  which  served  a  good  purpose 
in  their  time.  Notable  among  these  was  the  Lima  road,  extending 
north  through  Noble  county,  and  making  a  market  outlet  for  south- 
ern Michigan.  The  amount  of  produce  hauled  over  this  road  to  the 
Fort  Wayne  market  was  enormous.  Dozens  of  wagons  loaded  with 
wheat  might  be  counted  at  one  time  on  their  way  to  the  Fort  Wayne 


248  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

market.  Several  days  were  taken  to  make  the  trip.  A  notable  land- 
mark on  the  Lima  road  was  the  old  tavern  kept  by  Howard  Dun- 
ton  at  Huntertown,  near  the  north  line  of  the  county,  ten  miles  dis- 
tant from  Fort  Wayne.  This  was  a  regular  stopping  place  for 
teamsters.  Food  and  lodging  could  be  had  for  a  nominal  sum,  and 
whisky  free.  Good  fellowship  was  the  rule.  But  time  and  energy 
change  all  things.  Good  wagon  roads,  steam  and  electric  railways 
intersect  the  country  in  all  directions.  Fine  carriages  and  automo- 
biles have  taken  the  place  of  the  lumbering  ox  wagon,  and  all  that 
pertains  to  agriculture  has  kept  pace  with  advancing  civilization. 

The  first  agricultural  society  was  organized  in  the  year  1841, 
having  for  its  purpose  the  advancement  of  agricultural  interests. 
Its  first  officers  were :  Col.  N.  A.  Woodward,  president ;  Hon.  Sam- 
uel Hanna,  vice-president;  J.  Barkey,  treasurer;  Henry  Rudisill, 
secretary;  directors,  Joseph  Morgan,  William  Hamilton,  Elias 
Waters,  L.  G.  Thompson,  Marshall  S.  Wines,  Rufus  McDonald, 
John  Valentine  and  W.  S.  Reid.  This  society  continued  in  exist- 
ence for  a  number  of  years,  held  stated  meetings  for  the  discussion 
of  agricultural  subjects  and  also  held  one  or  more  fairs.  Interest, 
however,  began  to  wane,  presumably  from  lack  of  proper  financial 
support.  However,  the  work  begun  here  and  carried  on  simultane- 
ously in  other  sections  of  the  state,  had  its  desired  effect.  A  public 
sentiment  in  favor  of  improvement  and  better  methods  in  agricul- 
ture was  created  and  found  expression  in  the  acts  of  the  general 
assembly  in  1852  in  the  passage  of  an  act  for  the  encouragement 
of  agricultural  societies.  This  was  the  first  step  taken  by  the 
state  in  that  direction,  and  it  resulted  in  much  good. 

On  the  1 6th  of  August,  1852,  the  Allen  County  Horticultural 
Society  was  organized.  Hon.  I.  D.  G.  Nelson  was  elected  presi- 
dent; O.  W.  Jefferds,  treasurer,  and  F.  P.  Randall,  secretary.  Un- 
der this  organization  the  first  statistics  of  farm  crops  were  formu- 
lated, showing  that  Allen  county,  from  its  small  beginning,  had  in 
the  year  1856  produced  110,333  bushels  of  wheat,  worth  $146,303; 
408,913  bushels  corn,  valued  at  $98,273;  12,080  pounds  of  wool, 
valued  at  $2,853;  l93>2&5  bushels  of  oats,  worth  $41,765;  38,975 
bushels  of  potatoes,  valued  at  $19,389;  11,053  tons  °f  hay,  valued  at 
$59,352,  and  other  crops  in  proportion. 

When  we  take  into  consideration  the  conditions  which  con- 
fronted the  pioneer  farmer  it  is  indeed  gratifying  to  note  the  prog- 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  249 

ress  made.  Better  methods  were  being  adopted;  labor  saving  im- 
plements were  coming  into  use;  improved  live  stock,  with  the  ad- 
vent of  the  steam  railways,  which  opened  a  wider  market,  were  in- 
troduced; the  log  cabin  had  given  way  to  comfortable  dwellings; 
commodious  barns  were  built  on  many  of  the  farms,  and  an  era  of 
prosperity  and  contentment  was  enjoyed  by  the  Allen  county 
farmers. 

In  1865,  ten  years  later,  the  Indiana  state  fair  was  held  in  Allen 
county  on  the  grounds  which  now  encompass  our  beautiful  Lawton 
Park.  This  was  indeed  a  great  show  and  is  said  to  have  been  one 
of  the  most  successful  state  fairs  ever  held  in  the  state.  This  greatly 
encouraged  agriculture  in  this  part  of  the  state,,  and  it  was  surely 
a  godsend  to  Allen  county. 

The  State  Horticultural  Society,  of  which  I.  D.  G.  Nelson  was 
president,  held  its  annual  meeting  here  during  the  state  fair,  and 
many  eminent  horticulturists  from  other  states  were  present.  The 
official  reports  show  that  in  1870,  which  was  fourteen  years  after 
the  crop  reports  given  above,  there  were  in  Allen  county  4,916 
farms  in  regular  cultivation,  and  that  the  wheat  crop  amounted  to 
432,752  bushels,  an  increase  of  nearly  four  hundred  per  cent,  in 
fourteen  years.  Other  farm  crops  had  correspondingly  increased. 
This  noted  increase  was  brought  about  by  widening  markets,  the 
introduction  of  labor-saving  machinery  and  improved  methods. 
The  mower  and  reaper  had  taken  the  place  of  the  scythe  and  the 
sickle;  the  grain  drill  had  supplanted  the  primitive  method  of  sow- 
ing the  grain ;  the  horse  rake  took  the  place  of  the  hand  rake ;  horse 
forks  were  used  for  unloading  hay;  all  other  labor-saving  imple- 
ments, coming  as  they  did  at  a  time  when  the  great  Civil  war  had 
called  thousands  of  our  stalwart  boys  and  men  from  the  farm  to 
defend  our  country's  flag  and  honor,  were  eagerly  sought  after,  and 
had  it  not  been  for  their  use  those  left  on  the  farm  would  have  been 
at  a  great  disadvantage.  With  this  help,  however,  the  farmers  were 
enabled  to  accomplish  more  than  they  had  formerly  done. 

In  1873  the  Allen  County  Agricultural  Society  and  the  Horti- 
cultural Society  of  Northern  Indiana  were  merged  into  one  organi- 
zation, under  the  name  of  the  Northern  Indiana  Agricultural  and 
Horticultural  Association,  with  headquarters  at  Fort  Wayne.  The 
officers  were :  F.  P.  Randall,  president ;  Allen  Link,  treasurer,  and 
William  Lyne,  secretary.    Annual  fairs  were  held  by  this  associa- 


250  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

tion  and  were  generally  successful  and  resulted  in  mutual  good. 
But  as  time  passed  interest  abated  and  for  causes  with  which  the 
writer  is  not  conversant  the  annual  fair  was  discontinued,  and  the 
Northern  Indiana  Agricultural  and  Horticultural  Association  be- 
came a  thing  of  the  past,  and  for  a  number  of  years  Allen  county 
was  without  a  fair  or  an  agricultural  association.  But  time  passes 
and  with  it  come  the  apparent  needs  of  organized  effort,  and  on 
March  31,  1900,  a  new  organization  was  effected,  to  be  known  as 
the  Allen  County  Agricultural  and  Horticultural  Association. 
Alexander  Johnson  was  chosen  president  and  George  V.  Kell 
secretary,  who,  with  the  following  named  gentlemen,  composed  the 
executive  committee :  Stephen  Heath,  G.  L.  Ashley,  N.  P.  Brown, 
J.  D.  Gloyd  and  William  DeVilbiss.  The  aim  of  the  association 
was  the  advancement  of  agricultural  and  horticultural  interests  in 
the  county.  Steps  were  taken  to  organize  a  fair  association;  a 
premium  list  was  prepared,  and  considerable  work  done,  but  owing 
to  the  short  time  and  the  further  fact  that  a  presidential  campaign 
was  in  full  blast,  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  postpone  the  fair  until 
the  following  year.  But  the  work  begun  aroused  an  interest  in 
the  project,  and  in  1901  the  Fort  Wayne  Commercial  Club  became 
interested,  a  stock  company  was  organized,  officers  elected,  the 
Fort  Wayne  Driving  Park  was  leased  for  a  term  of  years,  and  a 
successful  fair  was  held  in  October  of  that  year.  Since  then  fairs 
have  been  held  annually  and  are  second  only  to  the  state  fair  at  In- 
dianapolis. Alexander  Johnson  was  the  first  president  of  the  fair 
association  and  William  Fleming  its  first  secretary.  The  present 
board  of  directors  are :  J.  C.  Peters,  Charles  McCulloch,  Dr.  Wil- 
liam F.  Myers,  James  Gillie,  A.  S.  Bond,  L.  A.  Centliver,  E.  H. 
McDonald,  Henry  A.  Wiebke,  James  B.  White,  D.  N.  Foster,  F.  J. 
Hayden,  Herman  W.  Tapp,  George  Thumm,  George  V.  Kell  and 
Ochmig  Bird. 

For  many  years  Allen  county  has  held  successful  Farmers'  In- 
stitutes. For  some  time  these  meetings  were  held  in  Fort  Wayne, 
and  consisted  of  a  two  days'  program.  Of  recent  years  in  connec- 
tion with  the  regular  Fort  Wayne  meeting,  supplemental  institutes 
have  been  held  in  different  parts  of  the  county  and  have  resulted  in 
much  good.  The  regular  institute  officers  at  the  present  time  are: 
George  V.  Kell,  president ;  Mrs.  Theodore  Sorg,  secretary,  and  W. 
H.  McCarty,  treasurer. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  251 


CHAPTER  X 


MILITARY  SOCIETIES  AND  MILITARY  COMPANIES  OF 
FORT  WAYNE  AND  ALLEN  COUNTY. 


BY  BOBERT   S.   BOBEBTSON. 


GRAND  ARMY  OF  THE  REPUBLIC. 

Posts  of  this  organization  began  to  be  formed  in  this  section  of 
the  state  in  the  summer  of  1866.  Terre  Haute  organ- 
ized the  first  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  post  in  In- 
diana, and  it  can  not  be  determined  from  existing  records 
what  rank  Allen  county  should  take  according  to  date  of  muster, 
but  it  is  entitled  to  rank  among  the  early  organizations  of  this  nota- 
ble order.  Under  the  original  plan  of  work  the  state  was  a  depart- 
ment, and  the  county  a  district,  and  a  commanding  officer  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  department  commander  for  each  district,  who  was 
entitled  to  a  staff  of  assistants.  Col.  George  Humphrey,  who  had 
seen  service  in  the  Mexican  war  as  second  lieutenant  of  Company  I, 
First  Indiana  Volunteers,  was  a  captain,  major  and  lieutenant-colo- 
nel in  the  Twelfth  Indiana  Volunteers,  and  colonel  of  the  Eighty- 
eighth  and  later  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Thirty-ninth  Indiana  Vol- 
unteer Infantry,  was  the  first  district  commander  for  the  district  of 
Allen. 

On  the  first  of  January,  1867,  ne  issued  general  order  No.  1, 
which  the  writer  still  has,  and  is  as  follows : 


252  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

Headquarters   District  of  Allen, 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  Adjutant  General's  Office, 

Fort  Wayne,  Ind.,  January  1,  1867. 
General  Orders  No.  1. 

The  following  named  officers  are  herewith  announced  on  duty  at  these 
headquarters,  and  will  be  respected  accordingly: 

Comrade  R.  S.  Robertson,  Assistant  Adjutant  General;  Comrade  C.  B. 
Oakley,  Aid-de-Camp  and  Inspector  General;  Comrade  J.  S.  Gregg,  Surgeon; 
Comrade  William  G.  Robertson,  Quarte  master;  Comrade  W.  W.  Case,  Aid-de- 
Camp;  Comrade  D.  Briant,  Aid-de-Camp;  Comrade  A.  H.  Dougall,  Aid-de- 
Camp;    Comrade  George  Stopher,  Aid-de-Camp. 

George  Humphrey, 
Official:  Commanding   District  of   Allen. 

R.  S.  Rorertson, 

Assistant  Adjutant  General. 

At  that  time  the  rules  and  regulations  and  the  ritual  of  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  as  well  as  its  badge,  were  different 
from  the  later  ones  adopted,  and  it  is  believed  that  very  few  would 
recognize  the  first  Grand  Army  badge  if  worn  now. 


The  First  Badge  of  the  Grand  Army  op  the  Republic. 

To  the  ex-soldiers  resident  in  the  town  of  New  Haven,  and  not 
to  those  of  Fort  Wayne,  belongs  the  honor  of  first  organizing  a 
Grand  Army  post  in  Allen  county,  and  probably  in  northeastern 
Indiana.  Under  the  plan  of  organization  then,  the  department  of 
Indiana  was  divided  into  districts  by  counties,  and  the  posts  were 
numbered  as  No.  i,  District  of  Allen,  etc.,  according  to  the 
county  in  which  organized.  Thus  the  post  at  New  Haven,  organ- 
ized some  time  prior  to  August  24,  1866,  was  known  as  "Post  No. 
1,  District  of  Allen,  Department  of  Indiana,  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic." 

Col.  Charles  A.  Zollinger  was  the  first  post  commander,  with 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  253 

Capt.  M.  M.  Thompson  quartermaster  and  Allen  H.  Dougall  adju- 
tant. Col.  Joseph  W.  Whittaker  is  believed  to  have  had  part  in 
the  official  staff,  but  the  records  of  the  old  post  being  missing,  the 
full  list  of  officers  and  the  charter  members  can  not  now  be  given. 

Its  first  observance  of  Memorial  Day  was  in  1867,  m  Miller's 
Grove,  near  town.  Col.  R.  S.  Robertson  was  the  orator  of  the 
day,  and  after  the  observances  of  the  program  a  basket  lunch  was 
served  to  a  large  assemblage  of  the  townspeople. 

It  is  not  known  how  long  it  remained  in  existence,  but  it  was  a 
strong  post  at  the  time  and  probably  met  the  same  fate  that  befell 
others  of  that  period — in  fact,  a  very  large  number  of  Grand  Army 
posts  all  over  the  country — died  of  politics.  At  any  rate  it  was  dor- 
mant, if  not  moribund,  for  many  years,  and  when  it  reorganized  it 
was  under  the  new  ritual  and  new  plan  of  organization.  Practi- 
cally it  was  the  same  comrades  who  reorganized  the  post  March  12, 
1887,  under  the  name  of  Jesse  Adams  Post,  No.  493,  Department 
of  Indiana,  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic.  The  first  post  commander 
was  Henry  C.  Zollinger,  who  served  as  such  more  than  one  term. 
The  charter  members  were:  Louis  Arion,  O.  D.  Rogers, 
Thomas  Brooks,  Moses  Ireland,  John  Troutner,  Henry  W.  Meyers, 
William  Stocks,  Frederick  Guebard,  Barney  Downhour,  Henry  G. 
Dawkins,  James  Richard,  Samuel  Peters,  Riley  J.  Miller,  William 
A.  Hargrave,  Henry  C.  Zollinger,  Abram  Lowery,  Joseph  W. 
Whittaker,  Thomas  Meads,  James  Dawkins,  Philip  Kollinger, 
Earl  Adams,  James  A.  Crippen,  William  Dawkins,  Joseph  Denzel, 
John  Brooks,  Theodore  F.  McDougall,  William  Hazelett  and  Justin 
Humbert.  The  post  commanders  succeeding  Zollinger  have  been : 
O.  D.  Rogers,  D.  N.  Foster,  Joseph  W.  Whittaker,  Thomas  Meads, 
James  Richard,  Henry  G.  Dawkins,  Lafayette  S.  Null,  J.  M.  Gor- 
rell,  William  Hazelett,  Robert  S.  Bell,  William  B.  Stocks,  J.  E.  Bix- 
by  and  J.  A.  Crippen. 

The  post  has  observed  Memorial  Day  with  proper  observances 
ever  since  its  organization,  the  citizens  as  a  whole  taking  part  to 
make  it  a  success.  There  are  ninety-one  graves  to  be  decorated,  and 
the  number  is  increasing.  The  total  enrollment  has  been  eighty-six 
and  the  members  in  good  standing  in  1905  are  eleven,  with  R.  S. 
Bell  post  commander.;  J.  A.  Crippen,  adjutant;  Lafayette  S.  Null, 
quartermaster,  and  J.  M.  Gorrell,  chaplain,  and  with  a  determina- 


254  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

tion  to  hold  their  charter  and  place  in  the  ranks  for  the  few  years 
yet  remaining  for  the  existence  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic. 

The  first  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  post  in  Fort  Wayne  was 
organized  August  24,  1866,  and  became  Post  No.  2,  District  of  Al- 
len, Department  of  Indiana. 

In  pursuance  of  a  previous  understanding,  Col.  J.  O.  Martin,  of 
Indianapolis,  the  chief  mustering  officer  of  the  department,  met  with 
a  number  of  the  ex-soldiers  at  his  room  in  the  Aveline  House  and 
there  mustered  into  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  the  following 
named:  Col.  George  Humphrey,  a  veteran  of  the  Mexican  war, 
major  and  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Thirtieth  Indiana  and  colonel 
of  the  Eighty-eighth  Indiana  Volunteers ;  Major  and  Surgeon  James 
S.  Gregg,  Eighty-eighth  Indiana  Volunteers;  Capt.  Christopher 
Hettler,  One  Hundred  and  Forty-second  Indiana  Volunteers ;  Lieu- 
tenant J.  H.  Ehlers,  Eleventh  Indiana  Battery;  Lieutenant  James 
C.  Woodworm,  Twenty-fourth  Massachusetts  Volunteers ;  Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Chauncy  B.  Oakley,  One  Hundred  and  Forty-second 
Indiana  Volunteers;  Capt.  Arnold  Sutermeister,  Eleventh  Indiana 
Battery;  Lieutenant  Henry  M.  Williams,  Eleventh  Indiana  Bat- 
tery; Lieutenant  John  H.  Jacobs,  Eleventh  Indiana  Battery,  and 
Private  Gustavus  Boltz,  One  Hundred  and  Forty-second  Indiana 
Volunteers.  George  Humphrey  was  elected  post  commander, 
Henry  M.  Williams,  quartermaster,  and  John  H.  Jacobs,  adjutant. 
The  other  officers  of  the  post  were  appointed  or  detailed  at  each 
meeting,  and  were  merely  an  officer  of  the  day  and  an  officer  of 
the  guard.  When  the  meeting  had  closed,  some  of  the  party,  with 
Colonel  Martin,  encountered,  on  Calhoun  street,  Col.  Charles  Case, 
adjutant  of  the  Forty-fourth  Indiana  Volunteers,  lieutenant-colonel 
of  the  Third  Indiana  Cavalry,  colonel  once  of  the  One  Hundredth 
by  commission  declined,  and  colonel  of  the  One  Hundred  and 
Twenty-ninth,  and  Col.  Robert  S.  Robertson,  of  the  Ninety-third 
New  York  Volunteers,  who  was  a  newcomer  here  and  had  not  yet 
decided  to  locate  permanently  until  he  had  completed  a  trip  to  the 
cities  on  the  Missouri  river,  but  later  returned  and  located  in  Fort 
Wayne.  The  party  repaired  to  the  law  office  of  Colonel  Case,  where 
the  two  were  mustered  in  also.  On  account  of  Robertson's  ab- 
sence, and  for  some  reason  unknown  in  regard  to  Colonel  Case, 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  255 

their  names  were  not  taken  upon  the  roster  of  the  post  until  Sep- 
tember nth  and  18th  respectively. 

The  charter  was  dated  September  20,  1866,  and  John  H.  Jacobs, 
Henry  M.  Williams,  George  Humphrey,  George  W.  Durgin,  Jr., 
and  James  S.  Gregg  were  the  only  persons  named  as  charter  mem- 
bers. Gen.  Robert  S.  Foster  was  the  department  commander  and 
Major  Oliver  M.  Wilson  adjutant  of  the  department.  A  hall  was 
procured  in  Jacobson's  building,  on  Calhoun  street  between  Main 
and  Columbia.  The  official  terms  lasted  six  months,  and  the  time 
for  the  regular  election  for  the  fall  was  October  2,  1866,  at  which 
time  Chauncy  B.  Oakley  was  chosen  post  commander;  William  W. 
Case,  quartermaster,  and  James  S.  Gregg,  adjutant.  In  Novem- 
ber the  post  moved  to  Odd  Fellows  Hall,  on  Court  street.  By-laws 
were  adopted  soon  after,  which  changed  the  time  of  election  of  offi- 
cers to  the  time  of  the  first  regular  meetings  in  January  and  July, 
and  on  the  4th  of  January,  1867,  the  following  officers  were 
chosen:  Robert  S.  Robertson,  post  commander;  Robert  Leeper, 
assistant  commander;  John  I.  White,  adjutant,  and  William  Ed- 
munds, quartermaster.  In  March  the  new  work  and  ritual  adopted 
by  the  national  encampment  provided  for  a  chaplain  and  surgeon  to 
be  added  to  the  official  staff. 

On  the  29th  of  March  a  communication  was  received,  through 
headquarters,  from  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  of  the  district 
of  Jefferson,  asking  the  post  to  approve  a  petition  to  congress,  ask- 
ing half  pay  for  life  to  be  given  to  every  officer  and  soldier  of  the 
late  volunteer  army  of  the  United  States.  It  is  worthy  of  note,  and 
speaks  well  for  the  sturdy  patriotism  of  the  post,  that  it  unanimously 
voted  not  to  approve  the  measure,  and  voted  to  send  a  vigorous  pro- 
test against  it  to  our  member  in  congress,  which  was  at  once  done. 

At  the  July  election  the  following  were  selected :  Chauncy  B. 
Oakley,  post  commander;  E.  N.  Edmunds,  senior  vice  post  com- 
mander; and  J.  N.  Broom,  adjutant.  There  was  doubtless  a  junior 
vice  and  a  quartermaster,  but  their  names  were  not  recorded. 

January  10,  1868,  the  following  were  elected:  Charles  Emery, 
post  commander;  E.  N.  Edmunds,  senior  vice  post  commander; 
Warren  H.  Withers,  Jr.,  junior  vice  post  commander;  Edward  H. 
B.  Scriven,  adjutant;  and  Henry  Tons,  quartermaster.  In  March 
Scriven  resigned,  and  Henry  H.  Robinson  became  adjutant. 


256  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

A  general  order  from  department  headquarters,  dated  May  I, 
1868,  abolished  the  districts  and  the  post  was  numbered  72,  depart- 
ment of  Indiana,  and  was  thereafter  known  by  that  number.  New 
Haven  Post  became  No.  24  of  the  department. 

On  the  15th  day  of  May,  1868,  Gen.  John  A.  Logan's  order 
from  national  headquarters,  designating  May  30th  as  a  memorial 
day,  and  recommending  the  decoration  of  soldiers'  graves  with 
flowers  and  with  appropriate  services  and  ceremonies,  was  received 
and  the  post  at  once  resolved  to  comply  with  it.  A  committee  was 
appointed  to  arrange  the  program,  and  carry  it  out,  of  which  Rev. 
Nathan  S.  Smith  was  chairman,  with  R.  S.  Robertson,  J.  I. 
White,  George  Humphrey  and  H.  C.  Hartman  as  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  committee.  Colonel  Humphrey  was  appointed  marshal 
of  the  day,  with  a  staff  of  assistants.  At  the  same  meeting  a  com- 
mittee was  formed  to  ascertain  as  far  as  possible  the  location  of  all 
graves  of  deceased  soldiers  in  the  county,  and  its  report,  far  from 
being  complete,  was  the  beginning  of  the  work  afterwards  com- 
pleted, so  that  now  it  is  believed  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic 
has  a  complete  roster  of  the  "low  green  tent"  of  every  soldier  bur- 
ied here. 

On  the  first  Memorial  day  ever  observed  in  Fort  Wayne  the 
procession  was  formed  at  and  marched  from  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal church,  corner  of  Berry  and  Harrison,  in  this  order: 

Jones'  Band. 

Little  girls,  one  for  each  state  and  territory,  bearing  flowers. 

Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  and  other  ex-soldiers. 

Fire  Department. 

Municipal  Officers. 

Citizens  on  foot  and  in  carriages. 

At  Lindenwood  cemetery  there  was  prayer,  music  by  the  band, 
address,  singing  by  children,  decoration  of  graves  by  strewing 
flowers,  and  benediction.  Strangely,  the  name  of  the  orator  of  the 
day  was  not  mentioned  in  the  records. 

The  next  year  Col.  R.  S.  Robertson  delivered  the  address,  and 
the  day  has  been  observed  annually  since,  with  apparently  increas- 
ing interest. 

At  the  election  held  July  3,  1868,  the  officers  elect  were:  R.  S. 
Robertson,  post  commander ;  E.  H.  B.  Scriven,  senior  vice  post  com- 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA. 


257 


mander;  James  Humphrey,  junior  vice  post  commander;  W.  H. 
Worden,  adjutant;  Henry  Tons,  quartermaster;  Nathan  S.  Smith, 
chaplain,  and  James  S.  Gregg,  surgeon. 

The  meeting  of  May  8,  1868,  was  an  open  one,  at  which  a 
Bible  was  presented  to  the  post  by  Amos  S.  Evans.  A  program  of 
music  and  speeches  was  carried  out,  a  feature  of  the  occasion  being 
vocal  music  by  the  daughters  of  the  late  Colonel  Bass,  Colonel 
Hurd  and  Captain  Emery,  dressed  to  represent  the  "Red,  White 
and  Blue."    Miss  Emery  also  recited  "The  Crutch  in  the  Corner." 


Badge  op  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  Now  in  Use,  Adopted  October  27-28, 1869. 


The  entries  in  the  post  records  ceased  July  10,  1868,  but  were 
resumed  March  5,  1869,  anc^  continued  irregularly  until  May  8,  1869, 
when  no  further  record  seems  to  have  been  made,  although  it  is 
known  that  Colonel  Oakley  and  William  H.  Davis  were  command- 
ers after  that  date.  Post  No.  72  died, — not  all  at  once, — but  by 
slow  degrees.  It  died  of  politics.  It  commenced  by  endorsing 
Captain  Emery  for  a  government  position.  It  endorsed  Colonel 
Humphrey  for  the  position  of  pension  agent,  and  then  Comrade 
Hartman,  who  became  a  candidate  for  the  same  position,  asked 
that  the  post  give  him  a  similar  endorsement,  which  the  post  re- 

17 


258  THE   MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

fused  to  do,  and  Hartman  and  his  supporters  withdrew  from  mem- 
bership, and  soon  the  bickerings  engendered  by  political  strife  bore 
fruit  and  resulted  in  dissolving  the  post,  without  any  official  ac- 
tion of  either  the  post  or  the  department  to  declare  it  moribund, 
or  give  it  funeral  rites. 

Twelve  years  passed  before  an  attempt  to  reorganize  the  Grand 
Army  in  Fort  Wayne  was  made. 

In  the  meantime,  early  in  1870,  a  new  badge,  the  one  still  worn, 
was  provided  for  the  order.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  it  was  in- 
tentionally made  very  similar  in  design  to  the  congressional  Medal 
of  Honor,  so  much  so  that  the  common  observer  failed  to  note  the 
difference,  and  so  the  Medal  of  Honor,  intended  to  be  equal  in  value 
to  the  Victoria  Cross  of  England,  the  Iron  Cross  of  Germany,  and 
the  Cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  of  France,  was  often  worn  un- 
noted, and  was  mistaken  for  the  common  badge  of  the  Grand 
Army.  The  mistake  has  been  only  lately  rectified,  by  the  adop- 
tion by  congress  of  a  new  design  for  the  Medal  of  Honor,  which  is 
protected  by  law  from  being  imitated. 

A  new  ritual  had  also  been  adopted.  Heretofore  the  work  had 
been  in  three  degrees,  that  of  recruit,  soldier  and  veteran.  The 
new  work  combined  them  in  one,  with  several  alterations,  some  im- 
provements, and  some  doubtful.  Thus,  when  the  time  for  reor- 
ganization came,  it  was  more  the  formation  of  a  new  post  than  a 
reorganization  of  the  old. 

SION  S.   BASS  POST,   NO.  40. 

A  charter  was  applied  for  under  the  above  name,  that  of  the 
colonel  of  the  Thirtieth  Indiana  Volunteer  Infantry,  who  was  killed 
at  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  and  was  granted  November  22,  1881,  to  the 
following  ex-soldiers:  Robert  S.  Robertson  (who  had  kept  up  his 
membership  by  joining  George  H.  Thomas  Post  of  Indianapolis), 
William  Rogers,  William  D.  Page,  David  N.  Foster,  Alfred  T. 
Lukens,  Homer  C.  Hartman,  Philo  E.  Brittingham,  John  W.  Hay- 
den,  Isaac  dTsay,  Ranold  T.  McDonald,  Allen  H.  Dougall,  George 
Humphrey,  Ferdinand  F.  Boltz,  Robert  Stratton  and  John  H.  Ja- 
cobs. The  temporary  post  commander,  chosen  to1  serve  until  the 
December  election,  was  J.  Kelly  McCracken.    In  the  absence  of  post 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  259 

records,  the  other  temporary  officers  of  the  post  are  unknown,  but 
it  is  believed  they  are  the  same  as  those  elected  in  December,  and 
who  served  through  the  year  1882.  The  first  officers  elected  for  a 
full  term,  and  served  during  1882,  were  Homer  C.  Hartman,  post 
commander;  George  Humphrey,  senior  vice  commander;  Ferdi- 
nand F.  Boltz,  junior  vice  commander;  Alfred  T.  Lukens,  officer  of 
the  day;  Ranold  T.  McDonald,  officer  of  the  guard;  Isaac  dTsay, 
quartermaster;  Allen  H.  Dougall,  adjutant. 

There  had  been  in  Fort  Wayne  two  warring  factions  among 
the  ex-soldiers,  who  had  not  then,  nor  have  they  yet,  lost  their  relish 
for  a  fight,  and  one  of  the  factions  had  outstripped  the  other  in 
organizing  the  post,  with  officers  of  their  own  choosing.  This  re- 
sulted in  the  other  faction  staying  out,  and  storming  the  post  in- 
trenchments,  or  if  any  of  their  number  applied  for  membership  he 
was  blackballed.  Appeals  were  made  to  the  department  commander, 
and  even  to  the  national  commander  for  the  organization  of  a  new 
post,  which  proposition  was  vigorously  opposed  by  the  post.  James 
R.  Carnahan,  the  department  commander,  and  Ben  D.  House,  ad- 
jutant general,  visited  Fort  Wayne  to  pour  oil  upon  the  troubled 
waters,  and  succeeded  in  obtaining  the  agreement  of  the  post  to  ad- 
mit in  a  body  all  the  outside  forces  who  should  make  application, 
and  a  meeting  was  called  which  acted  favorably,  and  November 
24,  1882,  was  set  for  the  time  for  mustering  the  recruits.  Paul 
Vandervoort,  then  commander  in  chief,  and  James  R.  Carnahan, 
department  commander,  were  present,  as  the  occasion  was  intended 
to  be  a  memorable  one,  and  a  banquet  and  program  had  been  pre- 
pared. After  the  muster  all  repaired  to  the  Mayer  House,  and  sat 
down  to  the  love  feast.  The  national  commander  responded  to  the 
toast,  "The  Grand  Army  of  the  United  States ;"  Department  Com- 
mander Carnahan  to  "The  Grand  Army  of  ttie  Republic  of  the  De- 
partment;" Post  Commander  Hartman  to  "Sion  S.  Bass  Post,  No. 
40;"  Robert  S.  Robertson  to  "The  Army  of  the  East;"  David  N. 
Foster,  to  "The  Field  and  Staff;"  and  Robert  Stratton  to  "Our 
Dead  Comrades."  Songs  and  instrumental  music  filled  the  inter- 
vals, and  a  general  campfire  followed. 

It  was  the  beginning,  and  the  end,  of  the  truce,  for  the  recruits 
soon  captured  the  camp  and,  figuratively  speaking,  sent  their  erst- 
while hosts  to  the  guard  house,  and  the  merry  war  raged  within 


260  THE   MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

the  post  until  the  secession  of  many  of  the  old  members  to  form 
Anthony  Wayne  Post. 

The  subsequent  post  commanders  were  David  N.  Foster,  1883; 
Thomas  Sullivan,  1884;  James  E.  Graham,  1885;  Ferdinand  F. 
Boltz,  1886;  James  C.  Peltier,  1887-1888;  Alfred  Dougherty,  1889; 
William  McClelland,  1890;  Frank  Gibson,  1891 ;  Isaac  N.  Meds- 
ker,  1893;  James  Liggett,  1894;  M.  R.  Johnson,  1895;  Charles 
Ehrman,  1896;  Henry  C.  McMaken,  1897;  Jasper  Edsall,  1898; 
Ambrose  Kintz,  1899;  A.  M.  Pierce,  1900;  Theodore  Geller,  1901 ; 
John  Kress,  1902;  William  Kennerk,  1903;  John  Hess,  1904,  and 
William  Donnell,  1905.  There  have  been  about  nine  hundred  and 
fifty  members  enrolled  from  date  of  organization.  The  present 
membership  is  one  hundred  and  thirty. 

The  department  encampment  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  was 
held  in  Fort  Wayne  in  1891,  under  the  auspices  of  Sion  S.  Bass 
Post  as  the  senior  post,  but  with  the  active  co-operation  and  assist- 
ance of  the  other  posts,  the  Sons  of  Veterans,  and  other  soldier  or- 
ganizations. The  post  has  always  been,  and  is  now,  active  in  Grand 
Army  work. 

ANTHONY  WAYNE  POST,  NO.  2^1. 

Owing  to  dissensions  in  Sion  S.  Bass  Post,  a  number  of  its 
members,  together  with  some  non-members,  petitioned  for  a  char- 
ter for  a  new  post,  under  this  name,  which  was  granted,  and  the 
charter  issued  December  17,  1883.  Its  charter  members  were 
Frederick  W.  Keil,  David  S.  Keil,  W.  L.  Stevenson,  Thomas  Ryan, 
Jacob  M.  Keyser,  J.  M.  Cook,  R.  Bender,  A.  Brown,  S.  W.  Stirk, 
Isaac  Mendenhall,  George  W.  Link,  John  C.  Kensil,  John  M.  Hef- 
felfinger,  James  C.  Gregg,  James  C.  Woodworm,  William  S.  Pet- 
tit,  Henry  C.  Eastwood,  Doris  A.  Woodworth,  Alpheus  P.  Buch- 
man,  William  A.  Kelsey,  John  Carson,  John  Seaton,  Joseph  Lum- 
bard,  John  W.  Hayden,  George  R.  Bickford,  Alexander  Sproot, 
Robert  S.  Robertson,  Fred  N.  Kollock,  Andrew  R.  McCurdy,  Wil- 
liam H.  Davis,  Isaac  dTsay  and  Richard  M.  Hayes.  The  officer 
chosen  to  serve  until  the  regular  election  in  January  following  was 
George  R.  Bickford,  post  commander.  At  the  election  in  December 
following  Robert  S.  Robertson,  who  was  then  serving  as  chief  mus- 
tering officer  of  the  department,  was  elected  as  post  commander. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  261 

His  successors  were  Allen  H.  Dougall,  1885;  Henry  C.  Eastwood, 
1886;  John  W.  Hayden,  1887;  John  Kensill,  1888;  Joseph  Lum- 
bard,  1889;  Philemon  Dickinson,  1890;  Andrew  R.  McCurdy, 
1891;  Fred  N.  Kollock,  1892;  Samuel  W.  Stirk,  1893;  Jonn  J- 
Ogle,  1894;  Claude  C.  Miller,  1895;  George  W.  Aldrich,  1896; 
Fred  W.  Keil,  1897;  Brookfield  Gard,  1898;  Henry  H.  Corey  and 
Patrick  Ryan,  1899;  William  H.  Wortman,  1900;  William  A.  Kel- 
sey,  1 90 1 ;  Amos  R.  Walter,  1902;  William  E.  Wood,  1903;  Rich- 
ard D.  Spellman,  1904;  W.  H.  Wortman,  1905. 

In  March,  1896,  a  consolidation  was  effected  with  George 
Humphrey  Post  and  a  new  charter  was  granted  March  18th,  naming 
the  eighty-five  members  of  both  posts  as  charter  members,  but  un- 
der the  name  and  number  of  the  Anthony  Wayne.  The  first  offi- 
cers chosen  under  the  new  charter  were  taken  from  the  membership 
of  both  posts.  The  post  is  flourishing,  with  seventy-one  active 
members  in  1905.  On  the  18th  of  August,  1905,  it  unanimously 
voted  to  consolidate  with  General  Lawton  Post,  and  empowered  its 
committee  to  perfect  the  reorganization  under  the  name  of  Lawton- 
Wayne  Post,  No.  271.  The  consolidation  was  successfully  carried 
out,  and  on  the  evening  of  October  20,  1905,  Junior  Vice  Com- 
mander A.  R.  Walter,  of  the  department  of  Indiana,  installed  the 
newly  elected  officers  of  Lawton-Wayne  Post,  as  follows :  Post 
commander,  Scott  Swann,  of  Anthony  Wayne  Post ;  senior  vice 
commander,  Cornelius  Gearin,  of  Lawton  Post;  junior  vice  com- 
mander, D.  Sutton,  of  Wayne  Post;  quartermaster,  I.  N.  Meds- 
ker,  of  Lawton  Post;  surgeon,  Dr.  B.  Gard,  of  Wayne  Post;  chap- 
lain, William  Kirkham,  of  Lawton  Post;  officer  of  the  day,  Am- 
brose Kintz,  of  Lawton  Post ;  officer  of  the  guard,  A.  Heckman,  of 
Wayne  Post;  adjutant,  B.  W.  Skelton,  of  Lawton  Post;  sergeant 
major,  Charles  Behm,  of  Lawton  Post;  quartermaster  sergeant,  F. 
W.  Keil,  of  Wayne  Post.  The  new  charter  bore  the  names  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  members. 

GEORGE   HUMPHREY  POST,   NO.    53O. 

This  post  was  organized  under  charter  dated  February  18,  1888, 
and  named  for  Colonel  George  Humphrey,  of  the  Eighty-eighth 
Indiana,  with  the  following  charter  members :     George  D.  Adams, 


262  THE   MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

Frank  Alderman,  Ferdinand  F.  Boltz,  David  N.  Foster,  William 
N.  Borden,  Crawford  Griswold,  Robert  G.  Renfrew,  William  Dev- 
lin, Matthias  Cramer,  Frank  R.  Welden,  Benjamin  W.  Skelton, 
Robert  W.  Swan  and  Alonzo  Woodworm.  The  first  officers  elected 
were  Frank  Alderman,  post  commander;  Frank  R.  Welden,  senior 
vice  commander;  Benjamin  W.  Skelton,  junior  vice  commander; 
Ferd  F.  Boltz,  surgeon;  Crawford  Griswold,  chaplain;  Robert  G. 
Renfrew,  quartermaster;  William  Devlin,  officer  of  the  day;  Mat- 
thias Cramer,  officer  of  the  guard;  George  D.  Adams,  adjutant.  The 
succeeding  post  commanders  were  Frank  R.  Welden,  1889;  George 
D.  Adams,  1890  and  1894;  Crawford  Griswold,  189 1-2;  Robert  G. 
Renfrew,  1893-4;  Conrad  Bricker,  1895. 

It  was  consolidated  March  18,  1896,  with  Anthony  Wayne  Post, 
No.  271,  surrendering  its  original  charter. 

GENERAL   LAWTON    POST,    NO.    59O. 

This  post  was  organized  May  12,  1900,  and  was  named  for 
Gen.  Henry  W.  Lawton,  who  was  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Thir- 
tieth Indiana  Volunteers  in  the  Civil  war,  became  famous  in  the 
pursuit  and  capture  of  Geronimo,  one  of  the  closing  scenes  of  our 
long  continued  and  terrible  Indian  war,  and  was  killed  in  battle 
in  the  Philippines.  His  boyhood  and  early  manhood  were  spent  in 
Fort  Wayne,  so  it  was  peculiarly  fitting  that  his  name  should  be 
thus  honored  in  his  old  home. 

The  charter  members  were  Christian  Newcomer,  Ambrose  W. 
Kintz,  William  Kirkham,  Charles  Ehrman,  Solomon  D.  Soliday, 
John  R.  Fox,  William  R.  Durfee,  William  Bishoff,  Marcus  R. 
Johnson,  William  H.  McClelland,  James  C.  Peltier,  Benjamin  W. 
Skelton,  Isaac  N.  Medsker,  Jacob  R.  Brockerman,  Theodore  Bley, 
Henry  C.  McMaken,  John  T.  Young,  Jacob  Moorman,  Enos  H. 
White,  Eugene  B.  Smith,  John  Snowberger,  David  Miles,  Ezra 
Rank,  John  Kennedy,  De  Lafayette  Beaber,  Fred  Goebel,  Charles 
Behn,  Rufus  R.  Eby,  James  H.  Bolens,  Joseph  Smith,  Abel  Bald- 
win, and  William  S.  Gearheart.  Amos  R.  Walter  acted  as  mus- 
tering officer,  with  Allen  H.  Dougall  assisting.  The  first  officers 
were  Theodore  Bley,  post  commander;  Benjamin  W.  Skelton,  sen- 
ior vice  commander;  Eugene  B.   Smith,  junior  vice  commander; 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  263 

M.  R.  Johnson,  adjutant;  Sol.  D.  Soliday,  quartermaster;  James  C. 
Peltier,  surgeon;  Isaac  N.  Medsker,  chaplain;  Charles  Behn,  officer 
of  the  day ;  William  R.  Durf ee,  officer  of  the  guard.  The  succeed- 
ing post  commanders  were  Benjamin  W.  Skelton,  1901 ;  Eugene 
B.  Smith,  1902;  Charles  Behn,  1903;  Enos  H.  White,  1904;  D.  L. 
Beaber,   1905. 

The  post  held  a  public  memorial  service  in  the  assembly  hall 
of  the  court  house,  December  9,  1900,  the  anniversary  of  General 
Lawton's  death.  Senior  Vice  Commander  Skelton  presided,  and 
R.  S.  Robertson,  of  Anthony  Wayne  Post,  delivered  the  memorial 
address,  giving  a  sketch  of  the  life  and  services  of  the  dead  hero. 
A  second  memorial  meeting  was  held  in  the  post  room,  December 
2J,  1 90 1,  but  none  since.  The  total  admissions  to  the  post  are 
ninety-one;  total  membership  1905,  seventy-nine. 

During  the  summer  of  1905  tentative  efforts  were  made  to  unite 
by  consolidation  with  Anthony  Wayne  Post,  No.  271,  and  a  com- 
mittee of  each  post,  consisting  of  Henry  McMaken,  Con.  Gearin 
and  Isaac  N.  Medsker  of  General  Lawton  Post,  met  with  a  similar 
committee  of  Anthony  Wayne  Post,  consisting  of  George  H.  Aid- 
rich,  Frederick  W.  Keil  and  Amos  R.  Walter,  R.  S.  Robertson 
being  later  substituted  for  Mr.  Keil  in  his  absence.  This  joint 
committee  agreed  upon  a  plan  of  consolidation  under  the  name  of 
Lawton-Wayne  Post,  No.  271,  and  upon  this  report  being  made  to 
Lawton  Post,  it  resolved  unanimously  to  accept  the  report  and 
plan  of  consolidation  on  the  nth  day  of  August,  1905.  The  plan 
was  successfully  carried  out  and  the  officers  of  the  newly  organ- 
ized post  were  installed  on  the  evening  of  October  20th. 

POST   NO.    3,   DISTRICT   OF  ALLEN. 

This  post  was  organized  in  the  first  half  of  October,  1866,  at 
Maysville,  Allen  county — now  changed  to  Harlan  as  postoffice 
name.  Dr.  Franklin  K.  Cosgrove,  captain  of  Company  D,  Forty- 
fourth  Indiana  Volunteers,  was  the  first  and  only  post  commander 
as  long  as  it  retained  its  organization,  and  Dr.  Joseph  H.  Omo,  who 
had  been  hospital  steward  of  the  One  Hundredth  Indiana  Volunteer 
Infantry,  was  its  first  and  only  adjutant.  It  went  into  disuse  in 
1868,  like  so  many  other  posts  of  the  early  organization,  and  since 


264  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

the  death  of  Dr.  Omo  it  is  not  known  where  its  records  are.  Dr. 
Horace  E.  Adams  was  also  one  of  its  members,  and  its  records  if 
found  would  probably  disclose  nearly  the  same  membership  as  that 
of  Stopher  Post,  which  was  its  successor  under  the  changed  ritual 
and  regulations.  That  the  new  post  was  the  legitimate  offspring 
of  the  old  is  proven  by  the  fact  that  the  old  as  well  as  the  new 
bore  the  name  of  David  K.  Stopher,  a  first  lieutenant  of  Company 
D,  Forty-fourth  Indiana  Volunteer  Infantry,  who  died  at  Knox- 
ville,  Tennessee,  of  smallpox  contracted  in  the  line  of  duty. 

DAVID  K.  STOPHER  POST,  NO.  75,  HARLAN. 

This  post  was  organized  at  Harlan  (Maysville)  under  the  above 
name,  June  12,  1882.  It  was  mustered  in  by  R.  S.  Robertson,  then 
chief  mustering  officer  of  the  department,  with  the  following  charter 
members :  Joseph  D.  Stopher,  Samuel  Keefer,  Nathan  P.  Eckles, 
Theodore  A.  Pattee,  D.  B.  Sagar,  D.  N.  Osyer,  Noah  Farner,  Com- 
fort W.  Starr,  George  Walters,  Lafayette  Coomer,  George  Holt, 
John  W.  Hatfield,  James  Kees,  Joseph  Sapp,  and  Henry  Hettinger. 
Its  first  officers  were  Lafayette  Coomer,  post  commander;  Noah 
Farner,  senior  vice  commander;  Theodore  A.  Pattee,  junior  vice 
commander;  Horace  E.  Adams,  surgeon;  Joseph  D.  Stopher,  quar- 
termaster; David  N.  Osyer,  adjutant;  J.  F.  Kenney,  chaplain;  John 
W.  Hatfield,  officer  of  the  day;  John  Farner,  officer  of  the  guard. 
Subsequent  post  commanders,  who  are  remembered,  are  Joseph  D. 
Stopher  (deceased),  Charles  H.  Higgins  (deceased),  John  W.  Hat- 
field, and  Noah  Farner  (deceased). 

At  some  time  the  post  had  seventy-nine  members  on  the  roll, 
and  its  meetings  were  well  attended,  and  its  observance  of  Memo- 
rial day  was  regular.  To  quote  the  language  of  one  of  its  members, 
"More  than  half  have  joined  their  comrades  beyond  the  river,  and 
David  K.  Stopher  Post  is  but  a  memory  (although  a  pleasant  one) 
to  the  comrades  who  await  the  last  roll  call."  The  exact  date  of 
its  closing  is  not  known. 

POST   NO.   4,   DISTRICT  OF  ALLEN. 

This  post  was  organized  at  Monroeville  in  the  fall  of  1866,  or 
early  in  1867.     Captain    Joseph  Collins  was  its  first  commander. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  265 

How  long  it  lasted  under  that  charter  is  not  known,  but  it  reorgan- 
ized under  the  name  of  Barnhart  Post,  with  Dr.  Charles  A.  Leister 
as  commander.  It  is  not  known  who  were  the  charter  members  of 
either  post,  and  both  fell  into  abeyance  without  formal  dissolution 
and  it  was  several  years  after  Barnhart  Post  closed  before  the  reor- 
ganization of  the  order,  under  the  name  of  William  H.  Link  Post, 
in  1885. 

There  was  decided  opposition  to  the  organization  on  the  part 
of  some  of  the  citizens  of  Monroeville,  that  part  which  had  opposed 
the  war  and  disliked  the  Union  soldier,  and  it  was  largely  owing 
to  that  unfriendly  sentiment  that  it  was  difficult  to  keep  the  order 
alive.  A  better  state  of  feeling  came  as  the  war  period  receded, 
and  the  order  is  now  active. 

WILLIAM   H.   LINK   POST,   NO.    3OI,    MONROEVILLE. 

This  post,  named  for  Col.  William  H.  Link,  of  the  Twelfth 
Indiana  Volunteer  Infantry,  killed  in  battle  of  Richmond,  Ken- 
tucky, August  30,  1862,  was  organized  under  charter  December 
28,  1885,  Ferd  F.  Boltz  acting  as  mustering  officer  and  post  com- 
mander, assisted  by  Allen  H.  Dougall,  acting  as  senior  vice ;  John 
W.  Vordermark,  junior  vice;  Frank  R.  Weldon,  chaplain;  George 
O.  Adams,  adjutant;  H.  A.  Crosby,  quartermaster;  John  H.  Rohan, 
officer  of  the  day ;  William  Donnel,  officer  of  the  guard ;  Willis  D. 
Maier,  C.  F.  Jarrett  and  John  Goodin,  guards. 

The  charter  members  mustered  were  David  S.  Redelsheimer, 
William  R.  Brown,  Charles  H.  Niel,  Horatio  D.  Pool,  Henry 
Smith,  Emanuel  Friedline,  Samuel  H.  Barto,  John  Goodin,  James 
A.  Brown,  William  M.  Eagy,  John  H.  Brown,  John  E.  Pillars, 
Abraham  Barkley,  Reson  F.  Mumma,  Samuel  L.  Ball,  Hugh  J. 
Glancy,  John  W.  Meeks,  John  H.  Barkley,  Daniel  S.  Johnson,  Jo- 
seph Lewis  and  John  H.  Rose.  The  officers  elected  were  David  S. 
Redelsheimer,  post  commander;  John  H.  Brown,  senior  vice  com- 
mander; John  E.  Pillars,  junior  vice  commander;  Emanuel  Fried- 
line,  quartermaster;  John  W.  Meeks,  surgeon;  Joseph  Lewis,  chap- 
lain; Henry  Smith,  officer  of  the  day;  Horatio  D.  Pool,  officer  of 
the  guard.  The  officers  in  1905  are  Morris  Rose,  commander;  Reu- 
ben Rosseau,  senior  vice  commander;  John  Goodin,  junior    vice 


266  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

commander;  John  W.  Meeks,  quartermaster;  John  H.  Brown,  offi- 
cer of  the  day;  Isaac  Jones,  adjutant. 

The  whole  number  enrolled  since  organization  is  ninety-one; 
present  membership  (1905),  thirty-three.  Memorial  day,  1886,  was 
observed  by  meeting  at  post  hall,  marching  to  two  cemeteries  and 
there  strewing  the  soldiers'  graves  with  flowers,  going  from  there 
to  the  schoolyard  where  a  cenotaph  had  been  erected  and  other 
patriotic  decorations  placed  and  addresses  were  delivered  appropri- 
ate to  the  occasion  by  Reverends  Slade,  Douglass,  Miller  and  Bick- 
nell.  The  post  has  kept  up  an  appropriate  observance  of  the  day 
ever  since,  and  is  still  active  in  Grand  Army  work. 


ENCAMPMENT  NO.   5 1,  UNION  VETERAN  LEGION,  OF  FORT  WAYNE. 

This  encampment  was  organized  in  the  latter  part  of  1889, 
largely  through  the  efforts  of  George  Turner,  Dr.  John  Seaton  and 
H.  W.  Dickman,  and  was  mustered  December  19,  1889,  by  M.  M. 
Murphy,  of  Mount  Vernon,  Ohio,  with  the  following  charter  mem- 
bers :  Henry  W.  Dickman,  George  Turner,  John  Seaton,  Samuel 
Anderson,  William  S.  Bidwell,  William  Benedict,  Diamond  L.  Car- 
penter, Charles  Bergk,  Alfred  Dougherty,  Samuel  Foltz,  Austin 
M.  Darroch,  Francis  Goings,  James  Graham,  Loudean  P.  Huntoon, 
Elias  Hire,  John  V.  Hiler,  George  J.  Haswell,  Frederick  Jacoby, 
Sylvester  L.  Lewis,  James  Liggett,  John  V.  Lonergan,  William  H. 
McClelland,  Charles  Reese,  Samuel  W.  Stirk,  James  Sheridan, 
James  W.  Seaman,  Milton  M.  Thompson,  John  H.  Rohan,  Phile- 
mon Dickenson,  Charles  Bishof  and  James  Chamberlain. 

The  national  commander  at  that  time  was  A.  L.  Pierson,  of 
Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania.  The  plan  of  organization  gave  to  the 
officers  military  titles,  and  the  first  officers  of  the  camp  were  James 
E.  Graham,  colonel;  Loudean  P.  Huntoon,  lieutenant  colonel;  Syl- 
vester L.  Lewis,  major;  Charles  Bergk,  officer  of  the  day;  Samuel 
W.  Stirk,  quartermaster;  Alfred  Dougherty,  chaplain;  John  Seaton, 
surgeon;  Milton  W.  Thompson,  adjutant;  James  W.  Seaman,  ser- 
geant major;  Francis  Fessenden,  color  bearer;  Henry  W.  Dick- 
man, quartermaster  sergeant ;  James  Chamberlain,  guard.    The  sue- 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  267 

ceeding  colonels  commanding  were  Austin  M.  Darroch,  Milton  M. 
Thompson,  Samuel  W.  Stirk,  Thomas  Z.  Babcock,  Henry  C.  Zol- 
linger (two  terms),  John  N.  Hiler,  Wilson  S.  Buck,  George  W. 
Aldrich,  George  A.  Gale,  John  M.  Henry,  William  H.  McClelland, 
Charles  J.  Parr,  James  C.  Peltier,  Henry  Hart,  and  William  Don- 
nell,  now  serving  (1905). 

About  one  hundred  and  fifty  members  have  been  mustered,  and 
the  membership  is  now  seventy-seven.  The  requirements  for  mem- 
bership are  that  the  applicant  must  have  enlisted  before  July  1,  1863, 
for  the  term  of  three  years,  and  have  served  two  consecutive  years, 
unless  discharged  on  account  of  wounds  or  other  disability  incurred 
in  the  line  of  duty  while  in  service.  No  drafted  man  nor  substitute 
was  eligible,  no  matter  what  his  service. 

The  national  encampment  of  the  Legion  was  held  under  its 
auspices  in  Fort  Wayne  at  Standard  Hall  in  1890,  and  again  in 
Library  Hall  in  1900,  at  which  time  William  J.  Bryan  was  one  of 
its  guests  of  honor. 

For  markers  at  the  graves  of  its  dead,  the  Legion  uses  a  metal 
shield,  similar  to  the  emblem  of  the  order,  with  a  staple  attach- 
ment to  hold  a  small  flag  at  memorial  observances,  which  it  keeps 
annually.  The  Union  Veteran  Legion  was  instrumental  in  pro- 
curing from  the  war  department  for  Lawton  Park,  the  large  naval 
carronades,  and  pyramid  of  shells,  which  form  so  striking  an  orna- 
ment to  the  entrance  of  that  beautiful  park,  and  also  in  procuring 
from  the  same  authorities  the  Spanish  sea  coast  gun  (the  largest  in 
the  state)  which  marks  the  site  of  old  Fort  Wayne,  and  was  erected 
in  memory  of  Gen.  Anthony  Wayne.  It  also  secured  the  funds  to 
elevate  the  soldiers'  monument  to  make  it  accord  with  its  surround- 
ings.    It  is  still  an  active  soldier  organization  in  Fort  Wayne. 

SION  S.  BASS  WOMAN'S  RELIEF  CORPS,  NO.   J. 

Sion  S.  Bass  Woman's  Relief  Corps,  No.  7,  auxiliary  to  Sion 
S.  Bass  Post,  No.  40,  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  was  organized 
at  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana,  September  16,  1884,  with  thirty-nine  char- 
ter members,  making  the  requisite  number  to  form  a  department, 
which  was  done  in  the  same  city,  September  17,  1884.  The  post  to 
which  this  corps  is  auxiliary  was  named  for  Col.  Sion  S.  Bass,  of 


268  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

the  Thirtieth  Regiment  Indiana  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  who  was 
killed  at  the  battle  of  Stone  River.  The  first  president  of  the  corps 
was  M.  Jennie  Graham,  who  has  long  since  passed  to  the  higher 
life.  Of  the  thirty-nine  charter  members,  but  six  remain,  some  lost 
by  death,  others  dropping  out  and  still  others  going  to  other  places 
where  they  allied  themselves  with  other  corps.  Those  remaining 
are  Amanda  Edsall,  Melissa  J.  Kickley,  Sarah  Chamberlain  (eighty 
years  of  age),  Sophie  J.  Crosby,  Lucia  A.  Kintz  and  Mary  Brown. 
Four  of  these  are  past  presidents  and  active  working  members. 

Woman's  Relief  Corps  No.  7  is  in  a  flourishing  condition,  with 
eighty-two  members  in  good  standing  and  nearly  five  hundred  dol- 
lars in  money;  have  not  much  relief  work  to  do,  turning  no  needy 
ones  away  and,  failing  any  relief  work  at  home,  cheerfully  contrib- 
ute to  calls  from  abroad.  It  has  sent  a  good  number  of  children  to 
the  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Orphans'  Home  at  Knightstown,  and  at 
the  happy  Christmastide  do  not  forget  a  generous  donation  to  help 
in  providing  these  little  ones  with  remembrances  of  the  day.  Me- 
morial Sabbath  and  Decoration  day  are  observed  by  a  good  turn- 
out and  patriotism  is  taught  in  the  public  schools  under  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  patriotic  instructor,  who  furnishes  primers  for  that  pur- 
pose. 

The  comrades  of  '61  to  '65  are  fast  passing  away.  And  as 
each  one  answers  to  the  last  bugle  and  goes  to  join  his  old  com- 
rades in  the  world  beyond,  the  ladies  of  the  Woman's  Relief  Corps 
hold  flag  services,  and  place  the  flag  he  loved  so'  well  and  for  which 
he  fought  upon  his  breast,  strewing  sweet  flowers,  singing  some 
sweet  old  song,  with  scripture  reading  and  prayer,  thus  to  honor 
and  emulate  the  noble  deeds  and  patriotism  to  country  and  flag  of 
those  who  "wore  the  blue." 

Names  of  charter  members :  Eliza  Sine,  Nancy  Mason,  M. 
Jennie  Graham,  Sarah  Chamberlain,  Sophie  Crosby,  Lottie  Bick- 
ford,  A.  N.  McCafTery,  Kate  Chamberlain,  Lida  Bidwell,  Matie 
Eaton,  Nancy  Paulus,  Rebecca  Band,  Lucia  Kintz,  Amanda  Ed- 
sall, Eliza  Allen,  Farley  Mendinghall,  Annie  Knapp,  Susan  Beals, 
Nettie  Barden,  Mary  Soliday,  Bell  Bernard,  Era  Benard,  Melissa 
Kickley,  Sara  P.  Foster,  Susan  Parker,  Annie  Weldon,  Eliza  Ward, 
Jennie  Hurst,  Emily  O.  Strope,  Eliza  Goldstone,  Frank  Tait,  Lydia 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  269 

Brooks,  Fannie  Mendenhall,  Ella  French,  Susan  Williams,  Rubie 
Mauk,  Sarah  Douings  and  Mary  Brorer. 

Past  presidents:  M.  Jennie  Graham  (two  years),  Annie  W  el- 
don,  Mrs.  Gorsline  (two  years),  Mrs.  Holloway  (part  of  term), 
Mrs.  Susan  Beals  (remainder  of  term),  Lucia  A.  Kintz  (two  terms), 

Adams,  McMaken,  Amanda  Edsall   (two  terms), 

White,  Emma  Hilton,  Elizabeth  Greenlun,  Melissa  Hick- 
ley,  C.  A.  Williams,  Mary  Merilett,  Maggie  Kress,  Mary  Brower, 
Lucia  A.  Kintz,  Mary  M.  Hoyles. 

The  officers  for  1905  are  as  follows :  President,  Mary  M. 
Hoyles;  senior  vice  president,  Sarah  King;  junior  vice  president, 
Susanna  Allen;  secretary,  Mattie  Etts;  treasurer,  Amanda  Edsall; 
chaplain,  Mary  Bower;  conductor,  Sadie  Wise;  assistant  conductor, 
Catherine  Pence;  guard,  Libbie  Hutchinson;  assistant  guard,  Ella 
Crow;  color  bearer  No.  1,  Mary  Middleton;  color  bearer  No.  2, 
Elizabeth  Hermon;  color  bearer  No.  3,  Libbie  Greenlun;  color 
bearer  No.  4,  Margaret  Millar;  patriotic  instructor,  Mary  Tills- 
bury;  press  correspondent,  Emma  Mennewish;  musician,  Elsa  Sut- 
ton. 

There  are  eighty-two  members  in  good  standing,  and  the  order 
is  doing  a  good  work  in  charitable  relief.  It  gathers  up  cast-off 
clothing  and  remodels  it  for  the  children,  it  gives  suppers  and  dona- 
tion parties  to  further  the  same  good  end,  and  thus  the  mothers, 
wives  and  daughters  of  the  soldier  keep  up  the  spirit  of  the  war 
in  doing  good. 

STIRK   CIRCLE,   NO.    1 8,  LADIES  OF  THE  G.  A.   R. 

This  organization  grew  out  of  dissensions  in  the  Woman's  Re- 
lief Corps,  and  its  designs  and  plans  for  work  were  much  the  same 
as  those  of  the  older  organization,  the  difference  consisting  largely 
in  the  qualifications  for  membership.  It  was  organized  June  21, 
1897,  Dy  Mrs.  Etta  Toby,  of  Logansport,  past  national  president. 
The  charter  was  issued  June  28,  1897,  and  named  as  charter  mem- 
bers Mary  J.  Corlett,  Sue  R.  Beals,  Alma  Niedhammer,  Maggie 
Doty,  Josephine  Woodruff,  Fannie  Gibson,  Mary  Thompson,  E.  C. 
Sawtell,  Estella  Coblentz,  Louise  J.  Woods,  Elizabeth  Sutton,  Mary 
Grund,  Mary  Zollinger,  Mary  J.  Stirk  and  Miriam  Stirk.     The 


270  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

first  officers  were  :  President,  Mary  J.  Corlett ;  senior  vice  president, 
Alba  Beals;  junior  vice  president,  Alma  Niedhammer;  secretary, 
Sue  Beals;  treasurer,  Fannie  Gibson;  chaplain,  Maggie  Doty; 
guard,  Mary  Thompson.  The  subsequent  presidents  have  been 
Sue  R.  Beals,  E.  C.  Sawtell,  Mary  Stirk,  Alice  Conover,  Cora  Ra- 
bus,  Fannie  Gibson. 

It  was  organized  as  an  adjunct  of  Anthony  Wayne  Post,  and 
named  for  a  deceased  member  of  that  post.  Its  membership  con- 
sists of  thirty-seven  ladies  and  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  mem- 
bers to  the  number  of  thirty-six,  all  Grand  Army  comrades  being 
entitled  to  honorary  membership.  Its  duties  are  to  assist  all  old 
soldiers,  whether  affiliated  with  the  Grand  Army  or  not,  to  assist 
the  needy  soldier  and  his  family,  and  to  see  that  no  veteran  is  bur- 
ied without  the  flag  he  served  under  and  offered  his  life  for  being 
placed  over  his  breast.  Mothers,  wives,  sisters  and  nieces  of  blood 
kin  to  a  soldier  or  sailor  of  the  Civil  war  are  eligible  to  membership. 
In  its  quiet,  unobtrusive  way,  the  society  has  done  much  to  carry 
out  its  objects,  and  to  alleviate  the  distress  of  the  deserving  objects 
of  its  charity. 

CAPT.   JAMES  B.    WHITE   CAMP,   SONS   OF  VETERANS. 

Col.  E.  S.  Walker  Camp,  Sons  of  Veterans,  was  organized  in 
November,  1887,  with  a  membership  of  thirty-seven.    The  first  offi- 


EMBIiEM  AND  BADGE  OF  THE  SONS  OF  VETERANS. 

cers  were  T.  W.  Blair,  captain;  E.  H.  Bookwalter,  first  lieutenant; 
Dora  Hardendorf,  second  lieutenant;  Ed.  C.  Close,  first  sergeant; 
W.  H.  Geller,  chairman  of  council. 

This  camp  was  merged  with  Capt.    James    B.  White  Camp, 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  271 

which  was  organized  December  10,  1901.  The  first  officers  of  Capt. 
James  B.  White  Camp  were:  Captain,  W.  F.  Geller;  first  lieuten- 
ant, H.  D.  Miller;  second  lieutenant,  Charles  C rouse;  camp  coun- 
cil, T.  W.  Blair,  E.  H.  Bookwalter,  George  Behler;  A.  F.  Archi- 
bald, first  sergeant.  The  present  officers  are  Captain,  W.  F.  Geller ; 
first  lieutenant,  W.  W.  Allen;  second  lieutenant,  S.  J.  Roberts;  first 
sergeant,  H.  D.  Miller;  quartermaster  sergeant,  C.  P.  Josse;  camp 
council,  T.  W.  Blair,  E.  H.  Bookwalter,  George  Behler.  The  camp 
has  a  membership  of  about  forty  members. 

The  Sons  of  Veterans  have  had  charge  of  memorial  exercises 
for  the  past  ten  years  and  have  very  satisfactorily  performed  this 
duty  to  the  soldier  dead. 

On  the  7th  day  of  June,  1905,  T.  W.  Blair  was  elected  com- 
mander of  the  Indiana  division,  Sons  of  Veterans,  and  the  state 
headquarters  are  now  located  in  this  city. 

THE  UNION  EX-PRISONERS  OF  WAR  ASSOCIATION  OF   NORTHEASTERN 

INDIANA. 

A  local  organization  under  this  name,  as  a  branch  of  the  na- 
tional association,  was  organized  June  18.  1889,  with  headquar- 
ters at  Fort  Wayne.  The  charter  members  were:  John  A.  Soli- 
day,  who  became  its  first  president;  Daniel  Springer,  Elijah  Bunt- 
ing, A.  Summerlott,  Elias  Duberry,  W.  E.  Timbers,  W.  A.  Feagle, 
John  Barrick,  Leonard  Beck,  Wesley  Johnston,  Charles  Beigle,  J. 
W.  Lynch,  J.  L.  Leslie,  George  M.  Burwell,  Louis  Young,  Edward 
Heath,  William  M.  Crane,  Fred  B.  Wood,  Peter  B.  Perry,  John  A. 
Rosenstine,  G.  H.  Frederick,  Henry  Nill,  J.  A.  Pruiness,  William 
Boone,  John  Traulner,  John  F.  Reammey,  W.  A.  Shriever,  Robert 
Bell,  Jacob  Rheim,  Stephen  Chase,  Thomas  R.  Marshall,  Samuel 
Foltz,  Wiiliam  Errick,  James  A.  Stacey,  Amos  W.  Ely,  J.  W.  Vor- 
dermark,  S.  L.  Lewis,  J.  M.  Ashley,  Lessel  Lang  and  Philip  Noll. 

The  organization  held  annual  meetings  for  about  ten  years,  but 
less  interest  and  decreasing  attendance  from  year  to  year  caused  it 
to  discontinue.  Its  first  reunion,  held  in  Standard  Hall,  at  Fort 
Wayne,  Tuesday,  January  7,  1890,  was  quite  an  elaborate  affair 
with  a  program  of  considerable  talent  and  interest,  as  follows : 


272  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

MORNING   SESSION,   10:00   A.   M. 

Prayer Rey.  R.   M.   Barns 

Address  of  Welcome Harry  C.  Hanna 

Response President    John   A.    Soliday 

Music,  "In  the  Prison  Cell  I  Sit." 

Brief  Addresses  by  Comrades. 

Election  of  Officers. 
Music,  "Columbia,  the  Gem  of  the  Ocean." 

AFTERNOON    SESSION,    2:00    P.    M. 

Address Ge>n.   A.   D.    Streight 

Music,  "Brave  Boys  are  They" Sons  of  Veterans  Quartette 

Address Capt.   J.   B.   White 

Music,  "Rally  Round  the  Flag,  Boys." 

Address Comrade  J.  W.  Vordermark 

Music,  "Tribute  to  Ellsworth" Sons  of  Veterans  Quartette 

Addresses Comrade  Dr.  F.  Wood,  Comrade  Sec.  J.  W.  Lynch, 

Comrade  Capt.  F.  F.  Boltz,  Comrade  Col.  O.  D.  Hurd  and  others. 

Season  of  Song. 
"Sherman's  March  to  the  Sea,"  etc. 
Reminiscences. 
Music,   "Tenting  To-night  on  the  Old   Camp   Ground," 

Sons  of  Veterans   Quartette 

EVENING    SESSION — BANQUET,    5:00    TO    8:00    P.    M. 

Toasts.  Response. 

Prisoners  of  War General   Streight 

Cavalry Captain    Lewis 

Infantry Captain    Boltz 

Artillery Lieutenant    Otto 

To  the  Boys  We  Left  Behind Comrade  Mason  Long 

Memories  of  Andersonville t Comrade  Gibson 

Joys  of  Our  Home  Coming Major  R.  C.  Bell 

Closing — Social  Hop. 

HENRY  W.   LAWTON  CAMP,  NO.   3,   UNITED  SPANISH   WAR  VETERANS. 

Shortly  after  the  close  of  the  war  with  Spain  several  organiza- 
tions of  its  survivors  came  into  existence,  all  planned  on  lines  of 
binding  together  the  survivors  into  an  order  similar  to  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic.  The  largest  and  strongest  of  these  was  the 
Spanish-American  War  Veterans  and  as  Fort  Wayne  had  fur- 
nished three  companies  for  the  war,  naturally  considerable  interest 
was  aroused  here,  and  a  society  was  formed  and  application  made 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  273 

for  a  charter  as  a  part  of  the  United  Spanish  War  Veterans  Associ- 
ation. 

February  21,  1900,  Major  G.  W.  Teasor,  of  South  Bend,  as 
special  mustering  officer,  organized  the  camp  in  the  Commercial 
Club  rooms,  with  sixty-two  members  on  the  charter.  Several  more 
were  added  within  a  short  time.  It  was  then  numbered  8,  and 
named  in  honor  of  Gen.  Henry  W.  Lawton,  of  Fort  Wayne,  who 
was  killed  in  battle  in  the  Philippines. 

Benoit  J.  Ellert  was  first  camp  commander,  J.  C.  Jackson,  adju- 
tant, and  John  H.  Wort,  quartermaster.  Subsequent  commanders 
have  been  Major  W.  W.  Barnett,  John  J.  Jackson  and  R.  M.  Sny- 
der. 

Early  in  1904  the  different  national  organizations  sent  dele- 
gates to  a  convention  of  all,  held  at  New  Haven,  Connecticut, 
where  terms  of  consolidation  were  agreed  upon,  under  the  name  of 
United  Spanish  War  Veterans,  which  resulted  in  a  strong  organi- 
zation with  some  two  hundred  thousand  members.  Fort  Wayne 
was  the  third  to  receive  a  charter  under  the  new  organization.  Its 
present  membership  is  thirty-five  and  increasing.  Its  officers  are 
William  A.  Carmer,  commander,  George  W.  Zollinger,  quarter- 
master, and  Henry  C.  Moriarity,  adjutant.  It  meets  the  first  and 
third  Wednesdays  of  each  month. 

SOCIETY     ARMY  OF  THE  PHILIPPINES. 


Badge  of  the  Society  Army  of  the  Philippines. 

Harry  A.  Wood  Camp,  a  branch  of  the  national  society,  was 
instituted  November  16,  1903,  at  Fort  Wayne,  and  was  named  for 
the  only  Fort  Wayne  soldier  killed  in  battle  in  the  Philippines.    He 
18 


274   -  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

was  one  of  the  members  of  the  Ninth  United  States  Infantry,  a  com- 
pany of  which  was  so  ruthlessly  massacred  at  Balingega.  Every 
officer,  contract  surgeon  and  enlisted  man  who  served  at  any  time 
prior  to  July  4,  1902,  and  has  an  honorable  discharge,  or  an  honor- 
able record  if  still  in  the  service,  was  eligible  to  membership,  and 
members  of  a  local  society  became  members  of  the  national  society. 
The  charter  members  were  Robert  Weber,  Dr.  D.  B.  Taylor,  Claude 
B.  Harper,  Winton  J.  Bennett,  J.  P.  Fromuth,  William  E.  Wilson, 
Henry  Storch,  Frank  L.  Riley,  Henry  Guyer,  Richard  H.  Rank, 
Louis  W.  Jones,  Ernest  Payne,  Peter  Zickgraf,  William  Marion 
Miller,  William  Tombaugh,  William  H.  Meine,  Walter  Poe.  The 
first  officers,  and  only  ones  elected,  were :  D.  B.  Taylor,  president ; 
Louis  W.  Jones,  vice-president;  Robert  Weber,  secretary;  Henry 
Guyer,  treasurer;  William  H.  Meine,  sergeant  major;  Peter  Zick- 
graf, bugler.     There  have  been  thirty-five  members  enrolled. 


MILITARY  ORGANIZATIONS. 

The  first  organization  of  a  military  character  known  to  have 
been  formed  in  Fort  Wayne  was  organized  in  1835,  for  the  sup- 
pression of  a  rebellion  among  the  laborers  on  the  Wabash  and  Erie 
Canal.  Its  roll  is  headed,  "A  correct  list  of  persons  belonging  to  a 
company  of  volunteers,  raised,  armed  and  equipped  at  Fort  Wayne, 
Indiana,  on  the  nth  day  of  July,  1835,  with  a  view  to<  the  suppres- 
sion of  difficulties  said  to  exist  between  two  parties  of  belligerent 
Irish  laborers  on  the  Wabash  and  Erie  Canal,  together,  with  an 
annexed  statement  of  the  actual  service  performed  by  each  individ- 
ual on  that  expedition."  Certified  at  "Fort  Wayne,  July  18th, 
1835,"  by  "John  Spencer,  Captain,"  and  attested  by  "Lucian  P. 
Ferry,  Orderly  Sergeant  pro  tern." 

John  Spencer  was  captain ;  Adam  Hull,  first  lieutenant ;  Samuel 
Edsall,  second  lieutenant;  Henry  Rudisill,  ensign;  David  Pickering, 
first  sergeant;  Lucian  P.  Ferry,  second  sergeant;  Samuel  Stophlet, 
third  sergeant;  and  Thomas  Tigar,  fourth  sergeant.  The  corporals 
were   Alexander   Porter,    first;   John    Rhineheart,    second;    Martin 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  275 

Weeks,  third;  and  Christopher  Lavely,  fourth.  The  band  consisted 
of  Samuel  C.  Flutter,  drummer,  and  Jacob  Waters,  fifer. 

There  were  sixty-three  privates,  who  were  all  well  known  citi- 
zens of  that  time,  and  who  served  from  one  to  six  days  each,  and 
the  company  was  disbanded  July  17th.  There  is  no  record  of  a  col- 
lision between  them  and  either  faction  of  the  "belligerents,"  and  the 
route  of  the  "expedition"  is  not  now  known. 

The  "Roll,"  now  in  the  possession  of  the  writer,  is  a  fine  speci- 
men of  penmanship  and  clerical  skill.  Being  organized  for  war, 
and  not  for  mere  parade,  the  company  had  no  name,  as  far  as 
known. 

THE  WAYNE  GUARDS. 

The  next  military  company  of  which  we  have  knowledge  was 
formed  under  this  name,  in  May,  1841.  How  long  it  lasted  is  not 
known.  Its  officers  were :  Samuel  C.  Freeman,  captain ;  Henry 
Rudisill,  first  lieutenant ;  B.  B.  Stevens,  second  lieutenant ;  P.  Ram- 
sey, ensign;  R.  McNullen,  P.  H.  Oliver,  T.  B.  Cocanour  and  Fran- 
cis Archin,  first  to  fourth  sergeants  respectively,  and  H.  T. 
Dewey,  R.  Chute,  S.  M.  Black  and  E.  Stapleford  first  to  fourth 
corporals;  Peter  Kiser  was  standard  bearer  and  Franklin  P.  Ran- 
dall clerk  of  the  company. 

FORT    WAYNE    LIGHT    GUARD. 

The  Fort  Wayne  Light  Guard  was  organized  in  1874  and  incor- 
porated for  three  years.  The  militia  law  of  the  state  was  so  crude 
at  that  time  that  it  was  impossible  to  either  draw  uniforms,  arms 
or  equipments  from  the  state.  The  company  gave  bond  to  the  city 
of  Fort  Wayne  and  the  city  drew  the  arms  on  its  bond  from  the 
state.  The  organization  was  as  follows  :  Captain,  Jared  D.  Bond ; 
first  lieutenant,  George  S.  Fowler;  second  lieutenant,  Alfred  T. 
Lukens;  first  sergeant,  Thomas  Andrew. 

This  company  was  composed  of  young  men  from  the  banks, 
offices,  mercantile  houses  and  railroad  offices.  During  its  three 
years'  existence  it  was  considered  the  finest  drilled  organization  in 
the  state  of  Indiana,  if  not  in  the  entire  west.    J.  D.  Bond,  captain, 


276  THE    MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

and  A.  T.  Lukens,  second  lieutenant,  were  both  veterans  of  the 
Civil  war  and  were  considered  very  proficient  drillmasters. 

FORT  WAYNE  COLLEGE  CADETS. 

The  Fort  Wayne  Methodist  College,  under  the  management 
of  President  Professor  Yocum,  organized  the  College  Cadets  about 
the  year  1880.  Capt.  A.  T.  Lukens  was  appointed  drillmaster  and 
this  office  he  filled  for  five  years.  At  the  beginning  of  the  military 
instruction  of  the  students  a  brass  band  was  organized  and  E.  W. 
Lukens,  brother  of  Capt.  A.  T.  Lukens,  was  made  leader  of  the 
band.  From  the  classes  under  the  tutorage  of  Captain  Lukens  a 
great  many  men  are  today  filling  useful  and  honorable  positions, 
among  whom  were  Hon.  W.  J.  Vesey  and  Owen  N.  Heaton,  both 
having  been  on  the  superior  court  bench;  Newton  D.  Doughman, 
assistant  general  counsel  for  the  "Nickel  Plate;"  E.  V.  Emrick,  late 
prosecuting  attorney  of  the  circuit  court;  Harry  Scott,  adjutant 
of  the  One  Hundred  and  Fifty-seventh  Indiana  Volunteers  in  the 
Spanish-American  war;  Prof.  Spencer  Smith,  now  of  the  North- 
western University  of  Chicago;  Robert  Burns,  an  Indian  from  the 
Cheyenne  reservation,  now  holding  a  position  under  the  United 
States  government;  Nicholas  A.  Robertson,  now  city  attorney  of 
Eureka,  Utah. 

THE   HIBERNIAN    RIFLES. 

This  independent  militia  company  was  formed  from  Irish- 
American  citizens  of  Fort  Wayne  in  October,  1895,  with  J.  E. 
Ford,  captain;  M.  J.  Geary,  first  lieutenant;  F.  J.  Monahan,  second 
lieutenant;  P.  E.  Bresnahan,  orderly  sergeant;  D.  J.  Murphy,  com- 
pany clerk,  and  John  B.  Ryan,  treasurer.  These  officers  continued 
without  change  until  January,  1898,  when  James  O'Ryan  became 
second  lieutenant,  vice  Monahan ;  C.  T.  Sullivan,  first  sergeant,  vice 
Bresnahan,  and  James  J.  Conroy,  clerk,  vice  Murphy. 

In  1899  the  following  changes  were  made :  J.  O'Ryan  became 
first  lieutenant;  C.  T.  Sullivan,  second  lieutenant;  J.  J.  Connolly, 
first  sergeant ;  J.  H.  Logan,  clerk,  and  S.  J.  Errington,  treasurer. 

In  1 900- 1  C.  T.  Sullivan  became  first  lieutenant;  J.  J.  Con- 
nolly, second  lieutenant ;  J.  J.  Conroy,  first  sergeant,  and  T.  J.  Con- 
nolly, treasurer. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  277 

In  1902  J.  J.  Conroy  became  first  lieutenant,  and  in  1903,  W. 
H.  Connors  became  second  lieutenant,  and  J.  J.  Finney,  first  ser- 
geant. Captain  Ford,  who  had  served  continuously  as  captain  to 
this  time,  resigned  on  the  10th  of  October,  1903;  and  Lieutenant 
J.  J.  Conroy  was  promoted  to  the  captaincy,  with  W.  H.  Connors, 
first  lieutenant,  J.  J.  Finney,  second  lieutenant.  In  1904  Captain 
Conroy  resigned,  and  W.  H.  Connors  was  promoted  to  the  cap- 
taincy, and  the  officers  in  1905  are:  W.  H.  Connors,  captain;  Tim. 
Moran,  first  lieutenant;  Ed.  J.  O'Connors,  second  lieutenant;  M.  J. 
Shea,  clerk,  and  T.  J.  Connolly,  treasurer. 

The  company  has  had  a  high  record  for  efficiency  in  drill,  has 
participated  in  exhibition  drills  at  Huntington,  Wabash,  Elwood, 
Marion,  Rushville,  Lafayette  and  Bluffton  in  Indiana,  and  Paulding, 
Payne  and  Antwerp,  Ohio.  It  paraded  at  the  dedication  of  the  Sol- 
diers' and  Sailors'  Monument  at  Indianapolis  May  15,  1902,  and 
entered  the  exhibition  drill  at  the  World's  Fair  in  St.  Louis  in  July, 
1904. 

It  offered  its  services  with  one  hundred  and  seven  men  in  the 
ranks  to  Governor  Mount  April  4,  1898,  for  field  service  in  the 
Spanish-American  war,  but  the  quota  of  the  state  being  full,  it  was 
not  called  upon. 

THE  FORT  WAYNE  RIFLES. 

This  company  was  organized  September  5,  1885,  with  Frank 
Wise  as  captain,  Thomas  J.  Deagan  as  first  lieutenant,  and  Ivers  W. 
Leonard  as  second  lieutenant.  After  a  few  months'  service,  Captain 
Wise  resigned  and  Frank  W.  Rawles  was  elected  captain,  and 
served  until  1890,  when  he  was  appointed  field  inspector  in  the 
United  States  pension  bureau,  and  removed  from  the  county  and 
state.  Charles  J.  Bulger  was  elected  to  fill  the  vacancy,  and  was  in 
command  of  the  company  until  its  reorganization  in  September, 
1 89 1,  when  he  declined  the  election,  and  John  E.  Miller  was  elected, 
and  served  as  captain  of  the  company  until  July  25,  1893,  when  he 
was  promoted  and  commissioned  as  major  in  the  state  militia. 
Charles  E.  Reese  succeeded  him  as  captain,  and  continued  in  com- 
mand of  the  company  until  the  outbreak  of  the  Spanish-American 
war  in  1898,  when  the  Fort  Wayne  Rifles  volunteered  for  war  serv- 
ice in  the  United  States  army,   was  accepted,   and  mustered  into 


278  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

the  United  States  service  as  Company  B,  One  Hundred  and  Ffty- 
seventh  Indiana  Volunteer  Infantry,  with  the  following  officers : 
Captain,  Charles  E.  Reese;  first  lieutenant,  John  B.  Fonner;  second 
lieutenant,  William  W.  Kerr.  Lieutenant  Kerr  died  in  the  service, 
and  his  body  was  brought  home  and  buried  in  Lindenwood  ceme- 
tery, with  military  honors,  the  local  state  militia,  the  Spanish  War 
Veterans,  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  the  Union  Veteran 
Legion  and  Sons  of  Veterans  uniting  in  the  ceremonies.  Peter  A. 
Thompson  succeeded  him  as  second  lieutenant. 

After  being  mustered  out  of  the  United  States  volunteer  serv- 
ice in  1898,  the  company  did  not  reorganize  as  a  part  of  the  state 
militia,  owing  to  the  fact  that  most  of  its  officers  and  men  had 
joined  other  bodies  in  the  United  States  volunteer  service,  going  to 
the  Philippines  and  to  China,  Captain  Reese  becoming  first  an  offi- 
cer in  the  Thirtieth  United  States  Volunteers,  and  later,  first  lieu- 
tenant Fifteenth  United  States  Infantry  (regular  service).  Lieu- 
tenant Fonner  became  lieutenant  in  the  Thirty-first  United  States 
Volunteers,  and  was  mustered  out  as  such  upon  the  expiration  of  its 
term  of  service.  Ivers  W.  Leonard,  the  first  chosen  second  lieu- 
tenant of  the  Rifles,  was  appointed  an  officer  in  the  United  States 
army  at  the  beginning  of  the  Spanish-American  war,  and  is  now 
(1905)  captain  of  a  company  of  United  States  infantry  stationed  at 
Fort  D.  A.  Russell,  Wyoming. 

The  company  took  part  in  the  prize  drills  at  Lafayette  in  July, 
1886,  taking  first  prize  in  maiden  class  and  second  in  state  drill. 
It  participated  in  the  Inter-State  Prize  Drill  at  Washington,  D.  C, 
in  May,  1887,  standing  sixteenth  in  a  total  of  ninety-six  companies 
competing.  At  the  Evansville  state  encampment,  July,  1888,  it  won 
first  prize,  and  held  it  against  all  comers.  It  has  attended  all  the 
state  encampments  from  1886  to>  1896  inclusive. 

The  company  was  called  into  service  for  the  expedition  against 
the  prize  fighting  and  pooling  at  Roby  in  1893,  anc^  also  ^or  ^ne 
railroad  strikes  soon  after,  but  fortunately  in  neither  case  were  their 
fighting  qualities  put  to  a  test. 

Its  officers  from  date  of  organization  have  been :  Captains, 
Frank  Wise,  Frank  W.  Rawles,  Charles  J.  Bulger,  John 
E,  Miller,  Charles  E.  Reese;  first  lieutenant,  Thomas  G. 
Deagan,  Ivers  W.  Leonard,  Henry  W.  Lepper,  Charles  J.  Bulger, 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  2jg 

William  H.  Peltier,  Henry  W.  Hagerman,  Charles  L.  Reese,  Peter 
A.  Thompson,  John  B.  Fonner;  second  lieutenants,  Ivers  W. 
Leonard,  Henry  W.  Lepper,  Charles  J.  Bulger,  John  E.  Miller, 
Charles  E.  Reese,  Peter  A.  Thompson,  John  W.  Thompson,  Ernest 
D.  Barr,  William  W.  Kerr,  Peter  A.  Thompson. 

The  Rifles  was  composed  of  some  of  the  best  youths  of  Fort 
Wayne,  and  quite  a  number  of  them  are  now  in  the  military  service 
of  the  United  States,  while  others  are  taking  high  rank  in  business 
and  political   affairs. 

THE   FORT    WAYNE  VETERANS. 

This  was  the  first  militia  organization  of  Fort  Wayne  to  become 
identified  with  a  regimental  organization.  It  was  organized  Octo- 
ber 9,  1883,  and  served  three  years  as  Company  L  of  the  First 
Regiment,  Indiana  National  Guard.  Its  officers  were :  Captains, 
James  H.  Rohan,  Francis  R.  Weldon  and  James  Harper;  first  lieu- 
tenants, Francis  R.  Weldon,  James  Harper  and  A.  C.  Brown; 
second  lieutenants,  W.  M.  Barnard,  M.  R.  Gardner  and  Jasper 
Edsall.  All  of  these  were  veterans  of  the  Civil  war,  and  the  com- 
pany was  mustered  out  of  service  at  the  expiration  of  its  first  term 
of  three  years. 

BATTERY  B,  INDIANA   NATIONAL  GUARD. 

This  battery  is  an  outgrowth  of,  or  successor  to,  the  "Zollinger 
Gatling  Gun  Squad,"  formed  some  time  prior  to  1887,  Dut  which 
virtually  disbanded.  In  November,  1887,  a  number  of  its  original 
members  reorganized  under  the  name  of  the  "Zollinger  Battery," 
both  organizations  being  named  for  Col.  Charles  A.  Zollinger,  of 
the  One  Hundred  and  Thirty-ninth  Indiana  Volunteer  Infantry,  for 
many  years  mayor  of  Fort  Wayne  and  pension  agent  at  Indianapo- 
lis. H.  C.  Eastwood  was  elected  captain  and  Charles  Cherry  first 
lieutenant. 

The  company  had  not  funds  to  secure  an  armory,  and  little  in- 
terest could  be  aroused,  and  few  drills  were  had  during  the  winter. 
In  April,  1888,  Colonel  Zollinger  secured  for  the  battery  two  Gatling 
guns,  and  uniforms,  with  instructions  to  organize  a  full  battery. 
This  was  done,  and  the  battery  accepted  by  the  State,  April  8, 


280  THE   MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

1888.  J.  C.  Willard  was  added  to  the  officers  as  second  lieutenant. 
At  the  encampment  held  at  Evansville  that  year  the  battery  won 
first  prize  in  Gatling  gun  drill  and  third  prize  in  artillery  drill.  In 
September  of  the  same  year  Captain  Eastwood  and  Lieutenant 
Cherry  resigned,  and  J.  C.  Willard  was  elected  captain,  William  F. 
Ranke  first  lieutenant  and  W.  W.  Munger  second  lieutenant.  After 
the  Indianapolis  encampment  of  1889,  Captain  Willard  resigned, 
and  Lieutenant  Mungen  was  elected  captain,  and  D.  S.  Eckart 
second  lieutenant. 

In  the  spring  of  1891,  its  term  of  three  years  having  expired, 
it  was  remustered,  with  the  two  ranking  officers,  and  J.  E.  Wolf, 
second  lieutenant,  in  place  of  Eckart,  who  did  not  remuster.  In  Au- 
gust of  that  year  the  battery  drilled  against  infantry  at  the  Na- 
tional German  Kriegerfest,  and  won  first  prize.  In  June,  at  Omaha, 
it  won  third  prize,  with  strange  guns,  their  own  failing  to  arrive 
in  time.  Soon  after  Lieutenant  Wolf  resigned,  and  Sergeant  M. 
J.  Cleary  was  elected  to  the  vacant  office.  He  resigned  in  1893,  and 
Sergeant  C.  A.  Teagarden  was  elected  to  the  vacancy.  In  the  fall 
of  that  year  the  battery  was  in  the  field  for  the  Roby  prize  fights, 
but  had  no  occasion  to  fire  a  gun. 

In  the  spring  of  1894  it  was  remustered  on  the  expiration  of  its 
second  enlistment,  with  William  F.  Ranke,  captain;  C.  A.  Tea- 
garden,  first  lieutenant,  and  Henry  C.  Niemeyer,  second  lieutenant. 
In  1896  Lieutenant  Niemeyer  resigned,  and  Sergeant  Frank  C. 
Kehler  was  promoted  to  that  position,  and  the  battery  being  en- 
titled to  a  junior  first  lieutenant,  Corporal  Clyde  A.  Snowberger 
was  elected  to  that  position. 

In  1897  it  was  remustered  on  its  third  enlistment,  and  elected  as 
officers :  William  F.  Ranke,  captain ;  W.  Frank  Alderman,  senior 
first  lieutenant;  Will  C.  Cleary,  junior  first  lieutenant,  and  Oliver 
S.  Jones,  second  lieutenant. 

In  expectation  of  the  war  with  Spain,  about  one  hundred  addi- 
tional men  were  examined  and  conditionally  enrolled  as  members, 
and  when  its  services  were  tendered  to  the  government  and  ac- 
cepted by  ordering  the  battery  to  proceed  to  Indianapolis,  one  hun- 
dred and  forty-two  responded.  On  the  12th  of  May,  1898,  it  was 
mustered  into  the  United   States   service  as  the  "Twenty-eighth 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  281 

Light  Battery,  Indiana  Volunteers."  It  had  four  officers  and  one 
hundred  and  twenty-one  men  when  ordered  to  Chickamauga  Park. 
In  June  it  was  ordered  to  increase  to  the  number  of  one  hundred 
and  seventy-six,  and  Captain  Ranke  came  home  to  recruit,  but  only 
required  two  days  to  obtain  the  number  required.  On  the  3d  of 
September  the  battery  was  ordered  to  Indianapolis,  and  were  there 
mustered  out  October  31,  1898.  Its  only  loss  was  by  the  death  of 
Michael  J.  Motherwell  from  typhoid  fever. 

In  the  summer  of  1899  Captain  Ranke  took  steps  to  reorganize 
the  battery,  but  was  commissioned  as  a  captain  in  the  Thirty- 
ninth  United  States  Volunteers.  This  he  resigned,  however,  and 
in  February,  1900,  he  reorganized  the  battery,  and  it  was  mustered 
into  the  state  service  as  Battery  B.  The  officers  were :  William 
F.  Ranke,  captain ;  Will  C.  Cleary  and  Fred  J.  Meyer,  first  lieuten- 
ants, and  Oliver  S.  Jones,  second  lieutenant. 

In  January,  1902,  Captain  Ranke  resigned,  after  fifteen  years' 
continuous  service,  and  Lieut.  William  C.  Cleary  was  elected  to 
succeed  him,  and  remained  in  command  until  January,  1905,  when 
he  resigned,  and  Lieut.  Harry  Clark  was  elected  to  the  captaincy, 
and  by  hard  and  efficient  work  has  kept  it  up  to  its  former  standard 
of  efficiency.  In  the  1905  encampment  at  Fort  Harrison  it  won 
first  prize  in  mounted  drill,  and  compelled  Battery  A,  of  Indian- 
apolis, for  the  first  time  in  its  history,  to  take  second  place.  The 
senior  first  lieutenant  is  John  C.  Scheffer;  junior  first  lieutenant, 
Henry  C.  Moriarity,  and  second  lieutenant,  Oscar  G.  Foellinger. 
The  battery  ranks  high  in  the  National  Guard  of  Indiana. 

COMPANY  L,  THIRD  REGIMENT,  INDIANA  NATIONAL  GUARD. 

This  company  was  organized  April  8,  1888,  from  Germans  who 
were  veterans  of  the  Franco-Prussian  war,  and  was  assigned  to 
the  Third  Regiment,  Indiana  National  Guard,  as  Company  L.  Its 
officers  were:  Herman  Hohnholz,  captain;  Will  Finke,  first  lieu- 
tenant; H.  Krone,  second  lieutenant.  The  officers  and  men  were 
so  accustomed  to  the  tactics  and  drill  of  the  German  armies  that 
they  found  it  difficult  to  adapt  themselves  to  that  of  the  United 
States    army,    which    the    state    militia    was    required    to    be    pro- 


282  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

ficient  in,  and  the  company  was  disbanded  in  the  year  following  its 
organization,  and  the  "German  Military  Company"  passed  into 
history. 

COMPANY   G,    THIRD   REGIMENT,    INDIANA    NATIONAL    GUARD. 

This  company,  with  sixty-one  members,  was  organized  December 
ii,  1893,  and  assigned  to  the  Third  Regiment  as  Company  G,  May 
23,  1894,  and  served  through  the  Spanish-American  war.  The 
officers  have  been:  Captains,  John  B.  Fonner,  W.  A.  Spice,  O.  C. 
Meyer  and  Jesse  L.  Birely,  who  is  in  command  now  (1905);  first 
lieutenants,  H.  C.  Mains,  W.  A.  Spice,  O.  C.  Meyer,  William  S. 
McLeod,  Maurice  J.  Archbold  and  Forest  Arney;  second  lieuten- 
ants, W.  J.  Spice,  O.  C.  Meyer,  W.  S.  McLeod,  John  S.  Jackson, 
Jesse  L.  Birely  and  Clarence  Craig. 

The  company  was  reorganized  and  mustered  into  service  in  the 
State  National  Guard,  July  13,  1900,  with  fifty-six  members,  and 
with  O.  C.  Meyer  as  captain,  Maurice  J.  Archbold,  first  lieutenant, 
and  Jesse  L.  Hirely,  second  lieutenant.  Captain  Meyer  had  en- 
listed in  December,  1893,  an<^  become  at  once  first  sergeant,  served 
through  the  strikes,  and  was  elected  second  lieutenant  March  28, 
1895,  on  the  resignation  of  Lieutenant  Mains,  and  Captain  Spice 
being  unable  to  go  to  the  field,  Meyer  was  made  captain  May  9, 
1898,  and  commanded  the  company  during  the  war,  and  reorgan- 
ized it  in  July,  1900,  and  was  again  elected  captain.  Lieutenant 
Archbold  served  as  private  from  May  10,  1894,  was  appointed 
quartermaster-sergeant  in  June  of  that  year,  and  served  in  that 
capacity  until  the  company  was  mustered  into  the  service  of  the 
United  States  for  the  war  with  Spain,  when  he  became  first  ser- 
geant, and  served  through  the  war,  being  elected  first  lieutenant 
on  the  reorganization.  Lieutenant  Birely  served  in  the  ranks  from 
July  21,  1896,  to  February  25,  1897,  when  he  was  appointed  cor- 
poral, and  when  the  company  entered  the  United  States  service  he 
became  a  sergeant,  and  served  as  such  throughout  the  war.  When 
the  company  reorganized  he  was  elected  second  lieutenant,  and  is 
now  (1905)  captain  of  the  company,  which  has  a  muster  roll  of 
sixty-two. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  283 

COMPANY    D,    EIGHTY-EIGHTH    INDIANA    VOLUNTEERS    ASSOCIATION. 

The  original  company  was  mustered  into  service  August  29, 
1862,  with  ninety-eight  non-commissioned  officers  and  privates, 
and  three  commissioned  officers.  In  the  spring  of  1864  it  received 
fourteen  recruits,  total  number  one  hundred  and  fifteen.  The  offi- 
cers were:  vCyrus  E.  Briant,  captain;  Isaac  Bateman,  first  lieuten- 
ant; Joseph  D.  Stopher,  second  lieutenant.  Briant  resigned  De- 
cember 12,  1862,  to  accept  a  commission  as  lieutenant,  Company 
C,  Eighty-eighth  Indiana  Volunteers.  Orderly  Sergeant  Scott 
Swann  was  promoted  to  captain  of  Company  D  December  12,  1862, 
and  First  Lieutenant  Bateman  and  Second  Lieutenant  Stopher  re- 
signed. Isaac  Slater  was  promoted  to  first  lieutenant,  and  was 
killed  in  battle,  and  then  Adam  Bowers  was  promoted  to  first  lieu- 
tenant and  Milton  M.  Thompson  promoted  to  second  lieutenant. 

The  organization  of  the  company  at  the  close  of  the  war  was : 
Scott  Swann,  captain ;  Adam  Bowers,  first  lieutenant,  and  M.  M. 
Thompson,  second  lieutenant.  Company  D  served  in  the  Four- 
teenth Corps,  and  was  in  all  the  engagements  of  that  famous  old 
corps,  from  Louisville,  Kentucky,  to  Chattanooga,  and  to  Atlanta, 
Georgia,  and  the  march  to  the  sea,  the  Carolinas,  till  Johnston  sur- 
rendered, and  then  to  Washington  City,  D.  C,  and  in  the  Grand 
Review,  being  discharged  June  7,   1865. 

This  association  was  organized  June  7,  1865  (the  date  of  the 
muster  out  at  Indianapolis,  Indiana).  The  objects  of  the  associa- 
tion are:  First,  to  keep  alive  the  patriotism,  the  kind  feeling  for 
each  other,  and  the  memory  of  the  hardships  and  privations  from 
'6 1  to  '65 ;  second,  to  meet  once  a  year  at  the  home  of  some  mem- 
ber of  the  company  and  to  assist  any  member  of  the  company  in 
need  of  help;  third,  the  date  of  meeting  to  be  August  29th  of  each 
year,  except  when  that  date  comes  on  Sunday,  and  then  the  follow- 
ing Tuesday  to  be  the  date;  fourth,  no  assessments  or  collections 
to  defray  expenses  were  to  be  made;  fifth,  the  company  to  be  offi- 
cered the  same  as  when  in  the  service,  and  to  serve  until  an  election 
is  called  by  a  majority  of  the  company  present  at  any  meeting; 
sixth,  all  members  are  required  to  visit  any  sick  member,  and  at- 
tend all  funerals  when  possible;  seventh,  all  members  are  required 


284  THE   MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

to  write  to  the  captain  of  the  company  on  dates  of  meeting,  if  they 
can  not  be  present. 

It  has  kept  up  the  organization  and  met  each  year.  It  lost  the 
first  member  by  death  twenty-two  years  after  discharge,  and  at 
the  last  meeting,  August  29,  1904,  it  had  lost  eleven  members,  forty 
years  after  discharge. 

The  company  lost  while  in  service,  out  of  one  hundred  and  fif- 
teen men,  sixty-two  from  all  causes — killed,  died  of  wounds,  sick- 
ness and  in  prison  and  discharged.  The  company  was  given  the 
right  of  the  regiment  for  efficiency  in  skirmish  fighting  when  on 
the  Atlanta  campaign,  three  times.  Volunteers  were  called  for  from 
the  brigade  to  drive  back  the  rebel  line  in  its  front  (in  rifle  pits), 
and  Company  D  volunteered  and  succeeded  in  driving  them  back. 
Company  D  fought  the  battle  of  White  Oak  Ridge  (near  Ringold) 
alone.  At  Chickamauga,  on  Sunday  morning,  Company  D  being 
on  the  skirmish  line,  was  cut  off  from  the  regiment  by  it  being 
forced  back  on  account  of  the  line  on  its  right  giving  way.  It  lost 
one  killed,  five  captured  and  fifteen  wounded,  out  of  forty-five  men. 
Company  D  fought  its  way  into  the  city  limits  of  Atlanta  July  24, 
1864,  forty  days  before  the  army  got  into  the  city,  captured  one 
and  killed  four.  The  fight  was  at  close  quarters,  and  the  company 
got  out  with  only  five  slightly  wounded. 


SONS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION. 


BY  GRAHAM  N.  BERRY. 


ANTHONY  WAYNE  CHAPTER,  NO.  I. 

To  Anthony  Wayne  Chapter  belongs  the  honor  of  being  the 
first  local  society  of  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution  organized 
in  Indiana,  and  by  reason  of  its  location  on  historic  ground,  no  more 
appropriate  name  could  have  been  proposed  for  it  than  that  of  the 
sterling  soldier  and  patriot,  Gen.  Anthony  Wayne,  whose  matchless 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  285 

prowess  and  leadership  paved  the  way  for  the  era  of  civilization 
which  has  won  for  the  state  her  present  proud  position  among  her 
sister  commonwealths  of  the  union.  The  objects  of  the  chapter,  as  set 
forth  in  the  third  article  of  the  constitution,  are  as  follows :  "To 
arouse  and  maintain  an  interest  in  our  own  locality ;  in  the  history  of 
the  American  Revolution  and  former  events,  leading  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  American  independence;  to  inspire  ourselves  and  our 
descendants  with  the  patriotic  spirit  of  our  ancestors  who  by  acts  or 
counsel  rendered  service  in  the  establishment  of  the  government  of 
the  United  States  of  America ;  to  preserve  the  record  of  such  service ; 
to  mark  places  in  this  city  and  county  which  have  reference  to  the 
Revolutionary  period;  to  increase  the  membership  and  usefulness  of 
the  state  and  national  societies  and  to  promote  social  intercourse  and 
good  feeling  amongst  its  members." 

Pursuant  to  a  notice  which  had  been  given  considerable  publicity, 
a  number  of  descendants  of  Revolutionary  ancestors  in  Fort  Wayne 
met  on  the  first  day  of  January,  1894,  and  perfected  an  organization 
with  the  following  charter  members :  Frederick  A.  Newton,  Seneca 
B.  Brown,  George  S.  Fowler,  Charles  B.  Fitch,  Otis  B.  Fitch, 
Robertson  J.  Fisher,  David  C.  Fisher,  Charles  B.  Woodworth,  Clark 
W.  Fairbank  and  Charles  E.  Bond,  of  whom  Seneca  B.  Brown  was 
elected  president;  R.  J.  Fisher,  vice-president;  Charles  B.  Fitch, 
secretary,  and  David  C.  Fisher,  treasurer;  a  board  of  managers  be- 
ing also  selected,  consisting  of  Clark  Fairbank,  Frederick  A.  Newton 
and  Charles  B.  Woodworth.  In  this  connection  it  is  proper  to  state 
that  among  the  leading  spirits  in  bringing  about  the  organization 
and  placing  it  upon  a  permanent  footing,  Seneca  B.  Brown,  the  first 
presiding  officer,  took  an  especially  prominent  part,  for  to  him  per- 
haps more  than  to  any  other  member  is  due  the  credit  of  not  only 
inspiring  a  lively  interest  in  the  society,  but  of  ably  and  faithfully 
directing  its  affairs  for  some  time  after  the  organization  went  into 
effect. 

In  due  time  a  constitution  and  by-laws  were  adopted,  among  the 
more  important  provisions  of  the  latter  being  the  third  article,  which 
designates  the  times  of  meeting  in  the  following  language:  "The 
annual  meeting  of  this  chapter  shall  be  held  on  the  first  day  of 
January  of  each  year,  that  date  being  the  anniversary  of  the  birth 


286  THE   MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

of  the  illustrious  Gen.  Anthony  Wayne,  in  whose  honor  this  chapter 
is  named."  It  further  provides  for  regular  meetings  to  be  held  on 
April  19th,  in  memory  of  the  Lexington  alarm;  June  17th,  the  anni- 
versary of  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  and  on  the  19th  of  October,  in 
memory  of  the  surrender  of  Yorktown,  which  event  terminated  the 
Revolutionary  struggle. 

The  chapter  has  maintained  an  abiding  interest  in  the  above  and 
other  noted  anniversaries  in  our  national  history,  the  meetings  being 
largely  devoted  to  the  Revolutionary  period  and  to  the  leading 
political  questions  growing  out  of  the  same.  The  membership  at 
this  time  numbers  thirty-three,  which  includes  the  majority  of  the 
descendants  of  Revolutionary  ancestors  residing  in  the  city  of  Fort 
Wayne.  The  officers  for  the  year  1905  are:  President,  Dr.  B.  Von 
Sweringen;  vice-president,  Charles  McCulloch;  secretary,  Charles 
S.  Swann;  treasurer,  Charles  B.  Woodworth. 


DAUGHTERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION. 


BY  GRAHAM  N.  BERRY. 


MARY  PENROSE  WAYNE  CHAPTER. 

The  objects  of  this  organization  are  clearly  and  succinctly  set 
forth  in  the  second  article  of  the  constitution,  which  reads  as  fol- 
lows :  "First,  to  foster  a  spirit  of  true  patriotism ;  second,  to  en- 
courage historical  research  in  relation  to  the  Revolution;  third,  to 
cherish,  maintain  and  extend  the  institutions  of  America ;  to  advo- 
cate appropriate  celebrations  of  all  patriotic  anniversaries;  fourth, 
to  preserve  the  memory  of  the  noble  women  who  bore  their  share  in 
the  dangers  and  privations  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution." 

Section  one  of  the  third  article  presents  the  prerequisites  for  mem- 
bership in  the  following  language:  "Any  woman  of  Indiana,  not  a 
member  of  any  other  chapter,  may  be  eligible  for  membership,  who 
is  of  the  age  of  eighteen  and  who  is  descended  from  an  ancestor  who, 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  287 

with  unfailing  loyalty,  rendered  material  aid  to  the  cause  of  inde- 
pendence, as  a  recognized  patriot,  as  a  soldier,  as  a  sailor  or  as  a 
civil  officer  in  one  of  the  several  colonies  or  states  of  the  united 
colonies  or  states;  provided,  that  the  applicant  shall  be  acceptable  to 
the  national  and  local  societies." 

Mary  Penrose  Wayne  Chapter,  so  called  in  honor  of  the  maiden 
name  of  Mrs.  Gen.  Anthony  Wayne,  was  organized  on  April  21, 
1 90 1,  the  following  being  the  names  of  the  charter  members:  Mrs. 
Minnie  Graves  Brown,  Mrs.  Marian  Anna  Barrett,  Miss  Florence 
Ewing  Barrett,  Mrs.  Minnie  Keel  Bash,  Mrs.  Sarah  Elizabeth  Fitch, 
Mrs.  Carolyn  Randall  Fairbank,  Mrs.  Clara  M.  Green,  Mrs.  Laura 
Woodworth  Granger,  Miss  Frances  Marian  Habberley,  Mrs.  Flora 
Merritt,  Mrs.  Frances  M.  Robertson,  Mrs.  Winifred  Randall,  Mrs. 
Amy  Randall  Seavey,  Mrs.  Mabel  Walker  Sturgeon,  Mrs.  Bessie 
Loring  Thieme,  Mrs.  Minnie  Thompson  White,  Dr.  Mary  Whery, 
Miss  Lulu  Elizabeth  Woodworth,  Mrs.  Evelyn  Bond  Watt,  Mrs. 
Alida  Taylor  Woodworth,  Miss  Gertrude  Lill  Williams  and  Miss 
Blanche  A.  Williams.  The  following  is  the  list  of  officers  who  first 
served  the  chapter:  Frances  M.  Robertson,  regent;  Marian  Anna 
Barrett,  vice-regent;  Minnie  Graves  Brown,  recording  secretary; 
Mabel  Walker  Sturgeon,  corresponding  secretary;  Sarah  Elizabeth 
Fitch,  treasurer;  Laura  Woodworth  Granger,  registrar;  Lulu  Eliza- 
beth Woodworth,  historian. 

The  members  of  this  chapter  have  displayed  commendable  zeal 
in  fostering  and  keeping  alive  an  interest  in  the  objects  of  the  organi- 
zation, and  to  this  end  have  been  regular  in  their  attendance  at  its 
various  sessions  and  prompt  in  their  response  to  every  duty.  A  list 
of  subjects  discussed  before  the  society  from  time  to  time  displays 
a  wide  and  varied  range  or  research  in  the  domain  of  American 
history,  including  not  only  the  Revolutionary  struggle,  and  the 
formative  period  of  the  government,  but  also  the  leading  political, 
industrial,  social  and  ethical  questions  relating  thereto,  together  with 
full  and  complete  biographies  of  soldiers,  statesmen,  publicists  and 
others  who  distinguished  themselves  during  the  different  eras  of  our 
national  existence.  Not  a  few  of  these  papers  display  profundity  of 
thought  and  a  high  order  of  literary  merit,  and  it  is  hoped  that  some 


288 


THE    MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 


time,  if  it  has  not  already  been  done,  they  will  be  put  in  permanent 
form  for  the  benefit  of  the  reading  public. 

This  chapter  had  the  honor  of  entertaining  the  second  state 
convention  of  the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution,  which 
held  its  sessions  here  in  the  year  1903.  It  proved  the  occasion  of  a 
brilliant  gathering  of  the  leading  members  of  the  order  throughout 
Indiana,  with  many  representatives  from  sister  states,  also  a  number 
of  officials  of  national  renown,  the  meetings  being  interesting  and 
enthusiastic  to  a  marked  degree,  and  the  assemblage  did  more  to 
afford  the  people  of  Fort  Wayne  a  true  conception  of  the  character, 
scope,  object  and  growth  of  the  organization  than  they  could  have 
obtained  from  any  other  source. 

At  this  time  the  Mary  Penrose  Wayne  Chapter  numbers  about 
forty  members  and  the  official  roster  for  the  years  1905-6  is  made  up 
of  the  following  well-known  ladies :  Mrs.  P.  A.  Randall,  regent ; 
Mrs.  Amy  R.  Seavey,  vice-regent;  Mrs.  Emma  Heaton,  correspond- 
ing secretary;  Mrs.  L.  C.  Hunter,  recording  secretary;  Dr.  Mary 
Whery,  registrar;  Dr.  Carrie  B.  Banning,  historian,  and  Mrs.  Sarah 
Vesey,  chaplain. 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  289 


CHAPTER  XI 


MEDICAL  HISTORY  OF  ALLEN  COUNTY. 


BY  MILES  F.  PORTER,  M.  D. 


Perhaps  no  profession  is  more  intimately  and  vitally  associated 
with  the  development  of  a  community  than  the  medical  profession, 
and  yet  the  names  of  medical  men  and  the  medical  profession  as  a 
body  occupy  a  very  small  space  in  recorded  history.  Doctors  like 
Benjamin  Rush  and  James  Collins  Warren,  who  find  a  place  in  his- 
tory, usually  do  so  through  extra-professional  rather  than  profes- 
sional activity.  The  reason  for  this  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that 
the  relationship  between  the  doctors  and  the  community  is,  in  a  large 
degree,  personal  in  character. 

Practically  all  improvements  along  lines  of  public  health  and 
public  hygiene  have  their  origin  in  the  medical  profession,  but  the 
origin  of  these  improvements  can  not  always  be  traced  to  the 
originator.  Often  they  may  be  traced  to  the  medical  society 
through  which  they  came  into  existence,  but  frequently  they  can  not 
be  traced  this  far.  Thus  it  is  that  a  councilman,  a  mayor,  or  a  com- 
missioner often  is  credited  with  originating  medical  reforms,  when 
in  fact  the  reform  originated  in  the  medical  profession  and  was  placed 
in  the  hands  of  the  public  functionary  that  it  might  through  him 
achieve  the  necessary  public  or  legislative  indorsement. 

So  far  as  the  public  is  concerned,  the  doctor  is  not  a  widely  known 
specimen  of  the  genus  homo.  The  medical  profession  is  known  very 
largely  through  the  hospitals,  societies,  health  boards  and  other  in- 

19 


290  THE   MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

stitutions  which  it  has  established,  and  through  which  in  large  meas- 
ure its  work  is  done.  Hence  it  is  that  the  medical  history  of  a  com- 
munity resolves  itself  in  great  part  into  a  history  of  its  medical  in- 
stitutions. Some  communities  are  fortunate  enough,  however,  to 
have  one  or  more  doctors  who  deserve  a  place  in  history  because  of 
unusual  distinction  they  have  achieved  through  original  medical 
work  or  discovery.  Allen  county  is  fortunate  in  that  she  has  on  the 
list  of  her  doctor  citizens  several  who  deserve  such  a  place.  Dr.  Ben- 
jamin Studley  Woodworth  was  graduated  in  medicine  in  the  twenty- 
first  year  of  his  age,  at  the  Berkshire  Medical  College  in  Massachu- 
setts, in  1837,  and  nine  years  thereafter  became  a  citizen  of  Fort 
Wayne,  where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life.  Dr.  Woodworth 
died  in  1891,  at  the  age  of  seventy-five  years,  having  spent  almost 
fifty-four  years  in  the  active  practice  of  his  profession.  The  writer 
had  the  pleasure  of  attending  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  Doctor's 
graduation.  Prior  to  coming  to  Fort  Wayne  Dr.  Woodworth  re- 
sided near  the  Grand  Rapids,  in  the  Maumee  valley.  Malaria  was 
rife,  and  the  treatment  in  vogue  worse  than  inefficient,  consisting  in 
the  administration  of  drastic  cathartics,  blood  letting,  emetics  and 
small,  almost  infinitesimal,  doses  of  quinine.  To  Dr.  Woodworth 
belongs  the  credit  of  being  the  first  in  this  section  of  the  country, 
and  one  of  the  first  in  the  profession,  to  advocate  and  practice  the  ra- 
tional and  scientific  method  of  treating  this  disease  now  in  general 
use.  Had  Dr.  Woodworth  done  nothing  else  in  life,  what  he  did 
in  the  accomplishment  of  this  reform  in  therapeutics  would  warrant 
the  placing  of  his  name  not  only  in  the  medical  history  of  this  local- 
ity, but  in  the  medical  history  of  the  world. 

Another  physician  who  must  be  mentioned  here  is  Dr.  William 
H.  Myers,  of  Fort  Wayne,  who  is  still  practicing.  He  was  the  first 
surgeon  in  this  section  of  the  country  to  successfully  remove  the 
spleen,  and  the  first,  and  only  one  to  date,  to  remove  a  living  child 
through  the  abdomen  of  the  mother,  following  this  delivery  of  the 
child  by  the  removal  of  the  womb.  Both  child  and  mother  recovered. 
The  former  operation  was  done  for  a  large  suppurating  spleen  on 
October  2,  1886,  at  St.  Joseph's  Hospital  in  this  city,  and  the  latter 
was  performed  upon  a  dwarf  because  of  an  extremely  small  pelvis, 
in  the  patient's  home  at  New  Haven,  Indiana,  on  August  27,  1892. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  291 

To  Dr.  Christian  B.  Stemen,  of  Fort  Wayne,  belongs  the  credit 
of  priority  in  the  so-called  "open  method"  of  treating  dislocations  of 
the  shoulder  joint  complicated  by  fractures  of  the  arm  in  the  imme- 
diate vicinity  of  the  joint.  This  method,  which  Dr.  Stemen  was  the 
first  to  put  in  practice,  consists  in  cutting  open  the  joint,  seizing  the 
dislocated  bone  and  putting  it  in  place,  reducing  or  "setting"  the 
fracture,  and  finally  closing  the  wound.  Prior  to  the  adoption  of  this 
method  of  treatment  most  of  the  unfortunate  victims  of  this  accident 
remained  cripples  the  rest  of  their  lives,  but  by  this  method  the  arm 
may  be  restored  both  as  to  usefulness  and  appearance.  This  first  op- 
ertion  was  made  in  a  farm  house  in  December,  1873. 

The  first  medical  periodical  was  published  in  Allen  county  in 
1879.  It  was  a  quarterly,  edited  by  Drs.  G.  W.  McCaskey  and  W. 
H.  Gobrecht.  But  one  number  was  issued,  when  Dr.  C.  B.  Stemen 
assumed  the  chief  editorship,  and  with  the  collaboration  of  others 
carried  on  the  publication  as  a  quarterly  for  four  years,  when  it  was 
changed  to  a  monthly  and  issued  in  that  way  under  the  title  of  the 
"Fort  Wayne  Journal  of  the  Medical  Sciences"  until  1897,  when  it 
was  merged  with  the  "Fort  Wayne  Medical  Magazine,"  under  the 
name  of  the  "Fort  Wayne  Journal-Magazine."  The  "Medical  Mag- 
azine" was  founded  in  1893,  with  Dr.  A.  E.  Bulson,  Jr.,  as  managing 
editor.  This  publication!  was  issued  monthly  until  the  merger  above 
noted.  The  "Medical  Journal-Magazine"  is  still  published  under  the 
same  management,  the  department  of  medicine  and  therapeutics  be- 
ing in  charge  of  G.  W.  McCaskey,  M.  D.,  that  of  surgery  in  charge 
of  Miles  F.  Porter,  M.  D.,  that  of  materia  medica,  therapeutics  and 
pediatrics  in  charge  of  B.  V.  Sweringen,  M.  D.,  and  that  of  opthal- 
mology,  otology  and  rhinology  in  charge  of  A.  E.  Bulson,  Jr.,  M.  D. 

The  first  medical  organization  in  the  county  was  known  as  the 
Allen  County  Medical  Society,  which  was  organized  in  affiliation 
with  the  state  society  in  i860,  with  Dr.  I.  M.  Rosenthal  as  president. 
This  society  still  lives  under  the  name  of  the  Fort  Wayne  Medical 
Society  (the  Medical  Society  of  Allen  County),  which  name  was 
adopted  March  15,  1904.  This  society,  on  June  23,  1903,  adopted 
the  constitution  recommended  by  the  American  Medical  Association 
with  a  view  to  bringing  the  county  and  state  societies  in  closer  affil- 
iation with  one  another  and  with  the  national  society,  thus  increas- 


292  THE   MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

ing  the  effectiveness  of  all.  The  membership  now  numbers  seventy- 
eight  and  meetings  are  held  every  two  weeks  during  the  year,  barring 
August  and  September.  As  a  result  of  a  movement  originating  in 
this  society  in  the  shape  of  a  resolution  offered  by  Dr.  Miles  F.  Por- 
ter, November  13,  1894,  the  office  of  city  bacteriologist  was  created 
by  the  council  early  in  1895.  Dr.  L.  P.  Drayer  was  the  first  incum- 
bent, being  appointed  prior  to  his  graduation.  In  this  society  also 
originated,  on  a  motion  offered  by  Dr.  B.  Von  Sweringen,  following 
recommendations  presented  in  a  paper  by  Dr.  G.  W.  McCaskey,  a 
crusade  against  consumption,  in  which  crusade  the  public  was  asked 
to  take,  and  is  taking,  an  active  part.  The  public  good  which  lies 
within  the  power  of  the  committee  appointed  under  this  motion  can 
scarcely  be  overestimated.  It  was  this  organization  too  that  put  on 
foot  the  movement  still  in  progress  to  secure  for  the  city  of  Fort 
Wayne  an  adequate  supply  of  pure  water. 

The  Fort  Wayne  Academy  of  Medicine  was  organized  in  1901, 
by  the  younger  members  of  the  profession,  most  if  not  all  of  whom 
are  members  also  of  the  Fort  Wayne  Medical  Society,  as  a  sort  of 
training  school  wherein  the  younger  doctors  would  feel  more  free  to 
express  themselves  than  in  the  older  society.  This  society  meets 
every  two  weeks,  its  meetings  are  well  attended  and,  all  in  all,  the 
work  that  it  is  doing  is  in  the  highest  degree  commendable.  This 
society  has  sixteen  members. 

On  the  death  of  Dr.  Woodworth,  in  189 1,  the  profession  came 
into  the  possession  of  his  library  as  a  nucleus  of  a  public  medical 
library.  This  nucleus  was  placed  in  the  public  library  in  1895,  and 
a  number  of  volumes  have  since  been  added.  There  are  now  several 
hundred  volumes  in  this  library,  which  is  soon  to  be  conveniently 
housed  in  the  new  library  building,  and  there  is  every  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  it  will  then  take  on  a  vigorous  and  continuous  growth. 
Prior  to  1896  the  State  Medical  Society  held  all  of  its  meetings  in 
Indianapolis,  As  a  result  of  a  movement  originating  in  the  Allen 
County  Society,  it  is  now  migratory.  The  first  meeting  after  the 
change  was  held  in  Fort  Wayne  in  1896.  That  the  change  was  wise, 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  membership  of  the  state  society  was  in- 
creased by  two  hundred  and  twenty-four  at  the  Fort  Wayne  meet- 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  293 

ing,  and  has  been  increasing*  yearly  ever  since,  until  now  the  mem- 
bership numbers  over  twenty-two  hundred. 

On  the  9th  of  May,  1869,  at  tne  corner  of  Main  street  and  Broad- 
way, in  a  house  built  for  a  hotel  and  known  as  the  "Rockhill  House," 
was  opened  the  first  hospital  in  Allen  county  by  representatives  of  a 
Catholic  order  known  as  Poor  Handmaids  of  Christ,  which  origi- 
nated in  Europe.  The  hospital  was  named  Saint  Joseph's.  The  first 
year  twenty  patients  were  treated ;  now  eight  hundred  are  treated  an- 
nually. The  buildings  now  occupy  half  a  square,  and  the  hospital 
building  proper  is  four  stories  high,  and  will  accommodate  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  beds.  Obstetric  patients  and  those  with  contagious 
diseases  are  not  admitted  to  this  institution.  With  these  exceptions, 
all  sick  or  injured  who  apply  are  admitted  without  regard  to  creed,  or 
color,  and  if  need  be,  without  money.  By  the  same  order  there  was 
opened  at  the  John  Orff  homestead  on  March  24,  1900,  a  hospital  for 
the  treatment  of  consumptives,  under  the  name  of  Saint  Rochus' 
Hospital.  This  hospital  will  accommodate  twelve  patients.  The  lo- 
cation is  beautiful  and  healthful,  and  the  grounds  capacious  and  at- 
tractive. As  at  Saint  Joseph's,  so  at  this  hospital,  the  doors  are  open 
to  all,  rich  or  poor,  without  regard  to  race  or  religion. 

The  City  Hospital,  now  known  as  Hope  Hospital,  had  its  origin 
in  a  movement  started  by  Dr.  William  H.  Myers,  the  idea  being  a 
"non-sectarian"  institution.  The  exact  date  of  the  opening  of  the 
hospital  can  not  be  ascertained,  but  it  was  probably  in  1877  or  1878. 
It  was  at  first  located  at  the  corner  of  Main  and  Webster  streets, 
from  which  place  the  institution  was  forced  to  move  because  of  an 
injunction  secured  through  the  efforts  of  residents  of  the  neighbor- 
hood. The  present  association  was  incorporated  in  August,  1878, 
under  the  name  of  the  City  Hospital,  which  was  a  misnomer,  inas- 
much as  the  hospital  has  never  received  any  aid  from  the  city.  The 
first  home  of  the  regularly  incorporated  hospital  was  at  the  south- 
east corner  of  Hanna  and  Lewis  streets.  The  name  was  changed  to 
Hope  Hospital,  in  accordance  with  the  wish  of  the  members  of  the 
family  of  Jesse  L.  Williams,  in  acknowledgment  of  what  he  and 
his  heirs  had  done  for  the  institution.  This  change  was  legally  made 
in  December,  1900.  In  1893,  the  hospital  was  moved  to  its  present 
location,  at  the  corner  of  Washington  and  Barr  streets.     In  1897 


294  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

there  was  established  in  connection  with  this  hospital  a  training 
school  for  nurses.  At  first  a  two-years  course  was  required,  but 
this  requirement  was  increased  to  three  years  in  1902.  The  alumnae 
of  this  school  originated  the  State  Nurses'  Association,  the  first  meet- 
ing of  which  was  held  in  Fort  Wayne  in  1903.  The  law  now  govern- 
ing the  practice  of  nursing  in  Indiana  was  drafted  by  this  association 
and  went  into  effect  in  1905.  There  are  at  present  twenty-seven 
nurses,  including  probationers,  in  the  hospital.  The  capacity  for  pa- 
tients is  seventy-five.  During  1904  there  were  treated  in  Hope  Hos- 
pital six  hundred  and  ninety-five  patients. 

The  German  Lutherans  of  Fort  Wayne  and  vicinity  opened  a 
hospital  in  the  homestead  of  Judge  L.  M.  Ninde,  on  Fairfield  avenue, 
in  December,  1904,  with  a  capacity  for  twenty-three  patients.  This 
capacity  proved  entirely  inadequate,  and  a  new  building  is  now  in 
process  of  construction  which  will  add  two  operating  rooms  and  room 
for  fifty-two  more  beds  to  the  present  capacity.  It  is  expected  that 
this  building  will  be  ready  for  occupancy  by  November  1,  1905.  A 
training  school  for  nurses  is  run  in  connection  with  this  hospital,  ac- 
commodating eight  pupils.  The  first  room  built  especially  for  an 
operating  room  was  built  in  Hope  Hospital.  At  present  all  of  the 
hospitals  have  operating  rooms  equipped  to  meet  the  exacting  require- 
ments of  present-day  surgery. 

The  first  medical  college  was  organized  in  Fort  Wayne  March 
10,  1876,  in  the  parlors  of  the  Aveline  House.  The  principal  mov- 
ers in  this  organization  were  Drs.  C.  B.  Stemen  and  H.  A.  Clark, 
who  were  up  to  that  time  teaching  in  the  Medical  College  of  Ohio  at 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  Drs.  B.  S.  Woodsworth,  I.  M.  Rosenthal  and 
W.  H.  Myers,  of  Fort  Wayne.  The  building  now  occupied  by  Mr. 
Geller  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Broadway  and  Washington  streets 
was  fitted  up  and  two  well  attended  sessions  were  held,  when,  on  ac- 
count of  internal  dissensions,  the  school  was  abandoned,  and  a  reor- 
ganization was  effected  which  lasted  one  year.  Then  followed  simul- 
taneously the  organization  of  the  Fort  Wayne  College  of  Medicine 
and  the  Fort  Wayne  Medical  College.  The  latter  existed  for  three 
years,  while  the  former,  having  practically  absorbed  the  latter,  still 
lives  and  is  prosperous.  It  owns  its  own  building  on  Superior  street, 
and  has  a  corps  of  teachers  numbering  over  thirty-three.     This  was 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  295 

the  second  college  in  the  Association  of  American  Medical  Colleges 
to  require  a  four-years  course  of  all  its  graduates. 

Although  a  state  institution,  the  Indiana  School  for  Feeble- 
Minded  Youth,  which  was  located  in  Allen  county  in  1890,  should 
here  receive  mention  in  that  it  offers  to  the  medical  student  admir- 
able opportunities  for  clinical  study.  Especially  abundant  in  this  in- 
stitution is  the  material  for  the  study  of  diseases  of  the  nervous  sys- 
tem, of  the  chest  and  deformities.  At  present  the  inmates  num- 
ber 1,031. 

Allen  county  physicians  did  their  full  duty  to  their  country  in  her 
time  of  need.  Amandas  J.  Laubach  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  One 
Hundred  and  Fifty-third  Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  served  until  after 
Lee's  surrender,  then  took  up  the  study  of  medicine,  graduating  from 
the  Long  Island  Hospital  Medical  College  in  1866.  After  practic- 
ing his  profession  in  Allentown,  Pennsylvania,  for  nine  years,  he  was 
appointed  acting  assistant  surgeon  in  the  United  States  Army,  in 
which  capacity  he  served  until  July,  1878,  when  he  established  him- 
self in  Fort  Wayne,  where  he  soon  built  up  a  large  practice,  which 
he  enjoyed  until  his  death,  which  occurred  March  6,  1892.  John 
M.  Josse,  for  years  a  prominent  figure  in  things  medical  in  Allen 
county,  was  an  assistant  surgeon  in  the  Seventy-fourth  Indiana,  and 
surgeon  of  the  Thirty-second  Indiana.  James  S.  Gregg,  who  during 
his  life  was  one  of  the  prominent  surgeons  of  the  state,  was  surgeon 
of  the  Eighty-eighth  Indiana.  William  H.  Myers,  who  is  still  prac- 
ticing in  Fort  Wayne,  was  surgeon  of  the  Thirtieth  Indiana.  Doc- 
tor A.  P.  Buchman,  who  is  still  engaged  in  an  active  practice  in  Fort 
Wayne,  where  he  has  been  located  for  more  than  twenty-five  years, 
enlisted  when  a  boy  as  a  musician  in  Company  I,  One  Hundred  and 
Seventh  Ohio  Volunteers,  and  served  three  years.  After  being  mus- 
tered out  he  resumed  his  studies,  and  after  graduating  in  medicine 
located  in  Fort  Wayne.  Dr.  J.  O.  G.  Gorrell  was  also  a  volun- 
teer who  served  throughout  the  Civil  war.  When  the  yellow  fever 
epidemic  broke  out  in  1878  he  volunteered  to  go  south  on  the  urgent 
call  for  help,  and  fell  a  victim  to  the  scourge.  He  died  nineteen  days 
after  his  departure  from  Fort  Wayne  in  Memphis,  Tennessee,  to 
which  point  he  had  been  assigned.  Dr.  John  J.  Ogle,  who 
for  a  number  of  years  has  been  practicing  his  profession  in  Fort 


296  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

Wayne,  served  one  year,  1864- 1865,  in  the  Third  Pennsylvania 
Heavy  Artillery.  Doctors  Lafayette  S.  Null  and  W.  J.  Bilderback, 
of  New  Haven;  Joseph  H.  Omo  and  F.  K.  Cosgrove,  of  Maysville, 
and  Brookfield  Gard,  H.  W.  Neiswonger,  Jacob  Hetrick,  Carl  Proeg- 
ler,  Charles  Bergk  and  E.  P.  Banning,  of  Fort  Wayne,  also  saw 
service  in  the  Civil  war,  but  the  writer  has  been  unable  to  acquaint 
himself  with  the  details  of  their  service.  In  the  Spanish- American 
war  also  Allen  county  physicians  did  their  full  duty.  Doctor  C.  H. 
English  served  as  brigade  surgeon  of  the  First  Brigade,  First  Divi- 
sion, Third  Army  Corps,  from  the  16th  of  June  to  the  close  of  the 
war,  October  1,  1898.  Emmett  L.  Siver  and  W.  W.  Barnett  were 
surgeons  in  the  One  Hundred  and  Fifty-seventh  Indiana. 


Since  this  article  was  finished  and  ready  for  the  printer,  there 
has  been  consummated  the  union  of  the  three  medical  colleges  in  In- 
diana as  the  medical  department  of  Purdue  University.  This  union 
marks  an  epoch  in  the  medical  history  of  Indiana,  and  will  prove  a 
mighty  stimulus  to  the  cause  of  higher  medical  education  through- 
out the  United  States.  Fort  Wayne  physicians  did  not  take  the  ini- 
tiative in  the  movement  which  culminated  in  this  union,  this  credit 
belonging  to  the  members  of  the  faculty  of  the  Indiana  Medical  Col- 
lege of  Indianapolis,  but  without  the  hearty  support  of  the  Fort 
Wayne  profession  a  harmonious  union  would  have  been  impossible. 
The  profession  in  Indianapolis  deserves  great  credit  for  their  share 
in  bringing  about  this  union,  for  it  required  no  small  sacrifice  on  their 
part,  but  greater  credit  is  due  the  members  of  the  faculty  of  the 
Fort  Wayne  College  of  Medicine,  for  their  sacrifice  was  greater,  in- 
asmuch as  the  union  results  in  the  loss  of  their  institution,  while  the 
Indianapolis  profession  will  have  in  their  midst  a  medical  school 
which  may,  and  we  believe  will,  soon  be  made  second  to  none  in  the 
country.  The  Indiana  profession  has  always  occupied  a  proud  posi- 
tion in  the  ranks  of  medicine,  and  the  Allen  county  contingent  has  al- 
ways been  well  to  the  front  in  that  position.  That  both  the  profes- 
sion of  the  state  and  the  Allen  county  contingent  thereof  are  well 
worthy  of  their  positions,  is  well  proven  by  their  broad-mindedness 
and  unselfishness  made  manifest  in  this  union,  and  as  commemorat- 
ing these  men  and  their  work  the  good  people  of  Hoosierdom  today 
point  with  pride  to  the  medical  department  of  Purdue  University. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  297 


CHAPTER  XII 


POLICE  DEPARTMENT. 


BY  GRAHAM   N.  BERRY. 


Until  1863  Fort  Wayne  was  without  a  regularly  organized  po- 
lice force,  the  only  protection  against  disorder,  violence  or  infraction 
of  the  law,  prior  to  that  time,  having  been  afforded  by  the  sheriff  and 
his  deputies,  the  city  marshal  and  assistants  and  a  few  constables. 
Realizing  the  need  of  more  adequate  protection  than  these  officials 
could  render,  the  council,  in  May,  1863,  established  a  force  of  police 
consisting  of  a  lieutenant  and  two  patrolmen  for  each  ward,  their 
hours  of  duty  being  from  twilight  to  daybreak.  Conrad  Pens,  to 
whom  belongs  the  honor  of  serving  as  first  chief  of  the  newly  organ- 
ized force,  was  a  German  sailor,  in  whom  were  combined  the  requi- 
site qualifications  for  a  successful  conservator  of  the  peace,  being  in- 
telligent, cool-headed  and  brave,  besides  possessing  executive  abil- 
ity, which  made  him  a  natural  leader  of  men.  The  other  chiefs  in 
order  of  their  service  have  been  William  Ward,  Fred  Limecooley, 
Patrick  McGee,  Diedrich  Meyer,  Michael  Singleton,  Hugh  M.  Diehl, 
Eugene  B.  Smith,  Hugh  M.  Diehl,  who  served  a  second  term  and  re- 
signed in  1889,  the  vacancy  being  filled  by  Frank  Wilkinson,  who 
was  appointed!  by  the  council  in  June  of  that  year. 

With  the  adoption  of  the  new  city  charter  in  1894,  the  depart- 
ment was  reorganized  and  placed  in  charge  of  a  superintendent,  the 
night  force  being  under  the  direction  of  a  captain,  who  received  his 
instructions  from  the  former  official.  The  title  of  superintendent 
was  continued  until  1905,  when,  under  an  act  of  the  general  assem- 


298  THE    MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

bly  in  April  of  that  year,  it  was  changed  back  to  chief,  under  which 
designation  the  head  of  the  department  has  since  been  known. 

When  the  reorganization  of  the  force  took  place  James  Ligget 
was  appointed  superintendent,  and  served  as  such  for  a  period  of  two 
years,  discharging  the  duties  of  the  position  with  marked  ability,  and 
in  various  ways  doing  much  to  promote  the  general  efficiency  of  the 
men  under  his  control.  Homer  A.  Gorsline,  the  successor  of  Mr. 
Ligget,  was  elected  superintendent  in  May,  1896,  since  which  time  be 
has  brought  the  department  to  a  state  of  efficiency  far  exceeding  that 
of  any  other  period  of  its  history,  proving  under  all  circumstances 
an  intelligent,  popular  and  thoroughly  capable  official,  daring  in  all 
the  term  implies,  keenly  alive  to  every  duty  coming  within  his  sphere 
and  possessing  the  abounding  confidence  of  his  subordinates  and  of 
the  public  at  large.  In  Mr.  Gorsline  are  combined  the  qualities  of 
the  strict  disciplinarian,  successful  executive  and  broad-minded  man 
of  affairs.  To  perceive  a  duty  is  to  him  equivalent  to  performing  it, 
and  what  he  does  himself  he  expects  his  subordinates  to  do  after  they 
have  been  properly  instructed. 

Although  considerably  handicapped  by  an  inadequate  force  of 
patrolmen,  the  number  being  no  greater  than  twenty-five  years  ago, 
when  the  city  was  much  smaller  and  more  easily  controlled,  he  has 
his  force  well  disciplined  and  thoroughly  in  hand  and  with  the  addi- 
tional aid  of  skillful  detective  service,  he  is  able  to  exercise  such  close 
surveillance  over  his  jurisdiction  as  to  make  his  name  a  terror  to  law- 
breakers and  evil-doers,  besides  earning  for  Fort  Wayne  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  one  of  the  best  policed  cities  in  the  state  of  Indiana. 

Since  the  adoption  of  the  charter  of  1894  the  night  force,  as  al- 
ready indicated,  has  been  in  charge  of  a  captain,  the  first  to  hold  the 
position  being  William  F.  Borgman,  who  served  from  the  spring  of 
that  year  until  his  resignation,  on  the  2d  day  of  February,  1898. 
Frederick  Daseler  was  appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy,  but  served  only 
to  the  29th  of  the  following  June,  when  he  too  resigned,  after  which 
Mr.  Borgman  again  accepted  the  place  and  continued  to  discharge 
the  duties  of  the  same  until  May  16th  of  the  following  year,  when  he 
was  succeeded  by  Frank  H.  Whitney.  After  filling  the  office  very 
acceptably  until  October  6,  1903,  Mr.  Whitney  handed  in  his  resig- 
nation, and  for  a  third  time  Mr.  Borgman  became  captain,  which  po- 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  299 

sition  he  has  since  filled  with  credit  to  himself  and  to  the  entire  sat- 
isfaction of  the  department  and  the  public. 

The  first  police  station  was  established  in  a  small  brick  building 
that  stood  opposite  the  court  house  on  Court  street.  An  office  occu- 
pied the  front  room,  communicating  with  a  cell  in  the  rear,  which 
was  fitted  up  with  three  iron  cages  for  the  use  of  male  prisoners,  the 
upper  floor,  containing  two  rooms,  being  set  aside  for  the  incarcera- 
tion of  such  females  as  broke  the  law  and  laid  themselves  liable  to  ar- 
rest and  detention.  This  building  continued  to  be  used  until  about 
the  year  1877,  when  larger  and  more  convenient  quarters  were  se- 
cured on  Barr  street,  where  the  business  of  the  department  was  con- 
ducted until  the  completion  of  the  new  city  building  in  1893,  since 
which  time  the  commodious  and  well-appointed  offices  in  the  latter 
have  been  occupied. 

Fort  Wayne  being  centrally  located,  easily  accessible  and  about 
equally  distant  from  a  number  of  the  larger  cities  of  the  Union, 
makes  it  a  favorite  rendezvous  for  criminals,  especially  of  the  more 
genteel  class,  or,  as  they  are  termed  in  police  parlance,  "The  Num- 
ber Ones,"  in  consequence  of  which  the  city  of  late  years  has  gained 
somewhat  of  an  unenviable  repute.  Cognizant  of  this  fact,  the  po- 
lice, under  the  superintendent's  alert  management,  have  redoubled 
their  diligence  in  ferreting  out  and  running  down  these  violators  of 
the  law,  quite  a  number  of  whom  have  been  brought  to  justice  from 
time  to  time  and  given  short  shift  to  Jeff ersonvi lie  or  Michigan 
City,  where  at  the  state's  expense  they  are  now  doing  service  and 
learning  by  better  experience  that  the  way  of  the  transgressor  is  truly 
hard.  Less  skill  is  required  in  handling  the  common  and  more  nu- 
merous criminal  class,  which,  for  the  reason  already  stated,  has  long 
had  a  large  representation  in  Fort  Wayne,  the  different  railways  fur- 
nishing them  easy  access  to  the  city. 

The  adoption  some  years  ago  of  a  special  police  and  detective  sys- 
tem by  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  has  been  of  material  benefit  to  the 
local  force  in  eliminating  the  tramp  evil,  no  one  being  allowed  to  steal 
rides  on  any  of  the  trains  of  this  line,  under  penalty  of  arrest  and  im- 
prisonment, the  result  being  an  almost  effectual  check  to  the  influx 
of  an  objectionable  class  over  what  was  formerly  one  of  its  chief 
avenues  of  travel.    When  the  other  railways  adopt  similar  stringent 


300  THE   MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

measures,  which  is  hoped  they  will  soon  do,  the  labors  of  the  Fort 
Wayne  police  will  be  reduced  by  one-half,  with  a  corresponding  in- 
crease in  the  peace  and  quietude  of  the  city. 

Since  its  reorganization  the  following  officials  have  rendered 
service  to  the  department  at  intervals  in  capacities  indicated :  Cap- 
tains of  police :  D.  Meyer,  M.  Singleton,  H.  M.  Diehl,  who  at  one 
time  was  chief  of  the  force ;  E.  B.  Smith,  Frank  Wilkinson,  William 
Borgman,  Frank  Whitney,  who,  as  before  stated,  was  succeeded  by 
Mr.  Borgman,  the  present  incumbent.  Among  the  captains  of  po- 
lice under  the  old  regime  were  F.  R.  Limecooley,  P.  McGee,  D. 
Meyer,  M.  Singleton,  H.  M.  Diehl  and  E.  B.  Smith;  sergeants — Wil- 
liam Borgman,  Fred  Daseler,  Frank  Jewell,  H.  Harkrider  and  John 
K.  Stevens;  detectives — George  Coling,  Fred  Daseler  and  Charles 
J.  Rulo;  marshals — Patrick  McGee,  Charles  Uplegger,  Christo- 
pher Kelly,  Frank  Falker,  Diedrich  Meyer  and  Henry  Franke.  (For 
complete  list  of  marshals  see  list  of  city  officers.)  The  personnel  of 
the  department  at  this  time  is  as  follows:  Chief,  Homer  A.  Gors- 
line;  captain,  William  F.  Borgman;  lieutenant,  Henry  Lapp;  detec- 
tives, George  Coling  and  Henry  Rulo ;  sergeants,  Henry  J.  Harken- 
rider  and  William  F.  Pappert ;  station  clerks,  Emil  Smith  and  Fred- 
erick Graffe;  patrol  drivers,  Henry  Reichard  and  David  Blum;  sta- 
tion master,  John  Terry;  city  court  bailiff1,  George  Strodel;  humane 
officer,  Louis  Schlaudroff ;  electrician,  John  Schroeder;  patrolmen, 
Benjamin  Bowers,  Michael  Brennan,  Frank  Cheviron,  Robert  Dick- 
son, Benjamin  Elliott,  John  Greer,  Abram  Goeglein,  Joseph  Golden, 
George  Heller,  Glenn  Johnston,  Peter  Junk,  Richard  Kelly,  John 
Keintz,  William  Knock,  August  Kroekeberg,  Louis  Linker,  Reg- 
inald Major,  Charles  McKendry,  Patrick  Murphy,  Charles  Nave, 
Ernest  Paul,  Nicholas  Petgen,  James  Richardson,  William  Rohrer, 
Charles  Spillner,  James  M.  Smith,  John  K.  Stevens  and  Robert 
Trebra. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  301 


CHAPTER  XIII 


FIRE  DEPARTMENT. 


BY  GRAHAM  N.  BERRY. 


The  history  of  the  fire  department  of  Fort  Wayne,  as  a  regular 
organization,  dates  from  the  year  1856,  prior  to  which  time  there 
had  been  two  volunteer  companies,  the  "Anthony  Wayne,"  organized 
in  1841,  and  the  "Hermans,"  in  1848.  The  apparatus  of  the  former 
consisted  of  a  Jeffreys  gallery  engine,  a  two-wheel  hose-cart,  with 
about  five  hundred  feet  of  hose,  the  entire  outfit  costing  the  sum  of 
five  hundred  and  eighty-seven  dollars.  The  headquarters  of  this 
company  were  on  the  east  side  of  Clinton  street,  north  of  Main,  and 
later  in  an  old  market  house  which  stood  on  the  north  end  of  the 
present  market  place  on  Barr  street.  It  is  a  matter  of  record  that 
the  general  assembly  in  the  session  of  1842,  by  a  special  act,  exempted 
the  members  of  this  company  from  working  the  roads  or 
serving  on  juries.  After  maintaining  an  existence  for  several  years 
and  answering  fairly  well  the  purposes  which  it  was  intended  to  sub- 
serve, the  company  was  disbanded  and  the  name  is  now  but  a  mem- 
ory. 

The  "Hermans"  maintained  an  engine  house  on  the  west  side  of 
Clinton  street,  north  of  Berry,  in  the  original  plat  of  the  city,  and 
owned  an  apparatus  consisting  of  a  side-brake  Button  engine,  a 
two-wheel  hose  cart  and  about  one  thousand  feet  of  leather  hose,  all 
of  which  arrived  in  the  same  year  that  the  organization  went  into 
effect.    This  company  proved  a  tolerable  protection  against  fire,  but, 


302  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

like  the  "Anthony  Wayne,"  finally  outlived  its  usefulness  as  an  ef- 
fective agency  and  in  due  time  ceased  to  exist. 

The  immediate  successor  of  the  "Hermans"  was  the  "Alert 
Engine  and  Hose  Company,"  which  was  organized  August  10,  1856. 
It  took  charge  of  the  apparatus  of  the  former  organization  and  con- 
tinued to  use  the  same  until  January,  1868,  when  the  machinery  and 
other  equipment  was  returned  to  the  city  and  a  reorganization  ef- 
fected as  the  "Independent  Hook  and  Ladder  Company."  On 
August  7,  1856,  a  third  company  was  organized  under  the  name  of 
the  "Mechanics'  Engine  and  Hose  Company,"  concerning  which  little 
is  known  beyond  the  fact  that  it  fulfilled  in  a  measure  the  expecta- 
tions of  its  founders,  and  disbanded  after  a  career  of  seventeen  years' 
duration. 

On  December  3,  1848,  the  council  established  the  fire  limits  by 
the  following  boundaries :  Barr  street  on  the  east,  Harrison  on  the 
west,  Main  street  on  the  south  and  the  canal  on  the  north,  quite  a 
circumscribed  area  for  the  present  day,  but  at  the  time  designated  it 
included  the  main  portion  of  the  rapidly  growing  town. 

In  January,  1861,  the  city  closed  a  contract  with  the  Silsby  Manu- 
facturing Company  for  a  steam  fire  engine  at  a  cost  of  four  thou- 
sand eight  hundred  dollars.  In  due  time  it  arrived,  was  tried  and 
accepted,  and  for  a  number  of  years  proved  a  very  effective  means  of 
checking  fires.  This  was  the  first  steam  fire  engine  brought  to  the 
city  and  in  compliment  to  the  mayor,  Hon.  Franklin  P.  Randall,  it 
was  given  his  name.  Still  later  there  was  purchased  from  the  Clapp 
&  Jones  factory  another  engine,  a  companion  to  the  first,  which  was 
called  the  Charley  Zollinger,  after  the  mayor  who  held  office  at  the 
time  it  was  bought.  In  the  summer  of  1867  the  council  purchased 
from  a  firm  in  Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania,  a  second-hand  fire  engine  of 
the  Amoskeag  type,  and  a  hose-reel,  paying  for  the  outfit  the  sum 
of  three  thousand  dollars.  In  September  following  a  company 
called  the  "Vigilant  Engine  and  Hose  Company"  was  organized  to 
operate  the  apparatus,  which  was  found  in  good  condition  and  quite 
serviceable,  notwithstanding  the  evidence  of  previous  use.  The 
next  year  two  additional  hand  engines  were  purchased,  but,  proving 
unsatisfactory  in  every  respect,  they  were  subsequently  disposed  of 
at  a  considerable  less  than  the  cost  price,  which  was  three  hundred 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  303 

dollars  each.  A  hook  and  ladder  truck  was  purchased  in  the  spring 
of  1872,  for  the  sum  of  two  thousand  three  hundred  dollars,  and  in 
the  fall  of  the  same  year  a  notable  addition  was  made  to  the  apparatus 
of  the  company  by  the  purchase  of  a  fine  rotary  steam  engine  from 
the  Silsby  works,  at  a  cost  of  four  thousand  eight  hundred  dollars. 
This  engine,  which  was  called  the  "Anthony  Wayne,"  met  every  re- 
quirement expected  of  it  and  its  long  period  of  service  bears  witness 
to  the  good  judgment  displayed  on  the  part  of  those  who  made  the 
contract.  In  January,  1874,  the  chief  of  the  fire  department  pur- 
chased the  first  hose  for  use  on  reels  and  carts.  In  May,  1874, 
Thomas  Mannix  having  been  elected  chief  of  the  fire  department, 
the  "Vigilants"  and  "Torrents"  withdrew  from  the  department  and 
resolved  themselves  into  a  union  to  be  known  as  the  U.  V.  &  T. — 
United  Vigilants  and  Torrents;  this  organization,  however,  did  not 
do  service  for  the  city.  It  was  about  this  time  that 
the  "Mechanics"  were  organized  and  reinstated  and  they  became 
very  active  in  carrying  out  the  objects  of  the  company,  proving  in 
many  respects  a  valuable  auxiliary  of  the  department. 

The  second  ward  engine  house,  at  the  northeast  corner  of  Court 
and  Berry  streets,  was  erected  in  the  summer  of  i860,  and  the  old 
engine  house  which  stood  immediately  in  the  rear  was  afterwards 
torn  away  and  a  portion  of  the  ground  used  for  an  additional  struc- 
ture, or  rather  an  extension  of  the  new  building,  thus  greatly  en- 
larging the  capacity  of  the  latter  and  providing  ample  accommoda- 
tion for  the  increasing  apparatus  of  the  department. 

On  the  15th  of  August,  1875,  the  National  Fire  Alarm  Tele- 
graph service  was  introduced,  with  fifteen  boxes,  about  eight  miles 
of  wire  and  other  necessary  apparatus,  the  total  cost  of  which 
amounted  to  five  thousand  dollars.  This  was  in  use  for  a  period 
of  nine  years,  at  the  expiration  of  which  time  the  Gamewell  system 
was  substituted,  the  latter  proving  vastly  superior  and  in  every  re- 
spect more  satisfactory  to  the  department.  The  system  of  hitching 
horses  by  electricity  and  the  suspension  of  swinging  harness  in  front 
of  the  apparatus  was  introduced  in  1875,  and  with  some  additional 
changes  and  improvements  they  are  still  in  use.  Both  horses  and 
men  are  so  thoroughly  drilled  and  such  is  the  rigid  discipline  which 
has  prevailed  in  the  department,  that  little  is  to  be  desired  in  the 


304  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

way  of  adding  to  its  efficiency  and  skill  in  combating  one  of  nature's 
most  subtle,  powerful  and  dangerous  agencies. 

For  a  number  of  years  water  was  supplied  to  the  department  by 
laying  long  lines  of  hose  to  the  canal,  but  this  being  found  unhandy 
and  inadequate,  a  series  of  fire  cisterns  were  subsequently  constructed 
at  the  intersection  of  the  principal  streets  of  the  city,  the  number 
being  increased  from  time  to  time  until  there  were  thirty-four  in  use. 
These  answered  the  purpose  for  which  intended  until  the  completion 
of  the  water  works  system,  when  they  were  abandoned  and  filled  up. 

Among  the  principal  volunteer  companies  which  rendered  service 
to  the  city  at  different  times,  the  following  are  deserving  of  mention, 
namely :  the  Alert  Engine  Company,  Torrent  Engine  and  Hose  Com- 
pany, Eagle  Engine  and  Hose  Company,  Vigilant  Engine  and  Hose 
Company,  Mechanics'  Engine  and  Hose  Company,  Wide-Awake 
Engine  and  Hose  Company,  Protection  Engine  and  Hose  Company 
and  the  Hope  Hose  Company,  all  of  which  were  very  useful  in 
their  day  and  highly  prized  by  the  public. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  chief  engineers  from  the  organization 
of  the  department  to  the  present  time,  with  their  respective  periods 
of  service,  namely:  L.  T.  Bourie,  1856  to  1858;  George  Humphrey, 
1858  to  i860;  O.  D.  Hurd,  i860  to  1861;  Joseph  Stellwagon,  1861 
to  1862;  L.  T.  Bourie,  1862  to  1863;  Munson  Van  Gieson,  1863  to 
1866;  Henry  Fry,  1866  to  1867;  Hiram  Poyser,  1867  to  1868; 
Thomas  Mannix,  1868  to  1873;  Frank  B.  Vogel,  1873  to  1874; 
Thomas  Mannix,  1874  to  1875;  Frank  B.  Vogel,  1875  to  1879,  the 
last  named  completing  the  list  that  served  under  the  old  volunteer 
system.  From  1840  to  1856  the  following  men  served  as  chief 
engineers  of  the  fire  department :  Samuel  Edsall,  William  L.  Moon, 
John  Cochrane,  Thomas  Pritchard,  John  B.  Cocanour,  Benjamin 
H.  Tower,  Samuel  L.  Freeman  and  George  Humphrey. 

In  May,  188 1,  the  department  was  reorganized  for  more  effec- 
tive service  and  a  force  of  men  employed  at  regular  salaries,  Henry 
Hillbrecht  being  appointed  chief  of  the  new  system.  So  able  and 
satisfactory  did  his  administration  prove  that  he  has  been  retained 
in  the  position  to  the  present  time,  his  record  during  his  long  period 
of  service  presenting  a  series  of  successes  such  as  few  fire  chiefs 
have  achieved.     John  McGowan  was  appointed  first  assistant  and 


j     US' 

.....  3 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  305 

Fred  Becker  second  assistant:  There  were  at  that  time  two  steam 
engines,  three  hose  carriages,  one  hook  and  ladder  truck,  with  two 
men  at  full  pay  to  each  apparatus  and  six  minute  men  on  half  pay 
to  each  of  the  three  hose  carriages. 

The  growth  of  the  city,  with  the  corresponding  increase  in  dan- 
ger of  fire,  made  it  apparent  that  the  department  could  not  handle 
to  advantage  such  a  large  area  from  a  single  station;  accordingly, 
after  repeated  recommendations  by  the  chief,  the  city  in  1885  erected, 
at  a  cost  of  three  thousand  dollars,  a  handsome  engine  house  in  the 
seventh  ward,  from  which  the  residences  and  manufacturing  estab- 
lishments in  that  part  of  the  city  can  easily  be  reached.  The  erection 
of  other  buildings  from  time  to  time  and  the  increase  in  the  force 
and  efficiency  of  the  department  have  kept  pace  with  the  growth  of 
the  city,  there  being  at  this  time  eight  fine  brick  structures,  fully 
equipped  with  the  latest  and  most  approved  apparatus  and  numbered 
in  the  order  of  their  respective  locations. 

No.  1,  a  two-story  building,  fifty-seven  by  one  hundred  and 
twelve  feet  in  dimensions,  standing  on  Main  between  Barr  and  La- 
fayette, was  erected  in  1893,  a*  a  cost  °f  twelve  thousand  dollars, 
the  lot  being  purchased  the  previous  year  for  the  sum  of  five  thou- 
sand dollars.  The  ground  floor  is  occupied  by  a  large  room  for  ap- 
paratus, in  the  rear  of  which  are  six  stalls  for  horses,  with  doors 
that  open  and  close  automatically.  To  the  front  and  side  are  the  sitting 
and  telephone  rooms  for  department  men,  while  back  of  these  are 
apartments  for  the  chiefs  conveyance  and  hose  and  for  the  elec- 
trician, also  a  large  and  commodious  repair  shop.  The  second  floor 
consists  of  a  dormitory,  library,  chief's  private  office,  together  with 
rooms  for  fire  alarm  instruments  and  bath  room,  the  building  being 
substantially  constructed  with  a  liberal  amount  of  cut  stone  trim- 
mings and  on  the  whole  presenting  a  very  beautiful  and  imposing 
appearance. 

No.  2,  located  on  Wallace  street  and  to  which  reference  has  al- 
ready been  made  as  the  seventh  ward  engine  house,  was  remodeled 
in  1889,  by  an  addition  costing  the  sum  of  two  thousand  dollars.  It 
has  a  frontage  of  fifty  feet,  a  sixty-foot  depth,  contains  on  the  ground 
floor  apparatus  room  for  steamer,  hose-wagon,  hook  and  ladder  truck 
and  stalls  for  seven  horses;  the  second  floor  being  occupied  by  a 
20 


306  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

dormitory,  reading  room,  bath  and  hay  loft.  The  lot  on  which  the 
building  stands  was  purchased  in  1870  for  one  thousand  fifty  dollars, 
making  a  total  cost  to  the  city  of  six  thousand  fifty  dollars,  although 
the  property  at  this  time  represents  a  value  greatly  in  excess  of  that 
amount. 

No.  3  stands  on  Washington  boulevard,  between  Harrison  and 
Webster  streets,  is  a  handsome  two-story  brick  structure  with  cut 
stone  trimmings  and  cost  the  city  the  sum  of  five  thousand  three  hun- 
dred dollars.  It  was  erected  in  1893  an<^  occupies  part  of  lot  465  of 
Hanna's  addition,  which  was  purchased  the  previous  year  for  four 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars,  making  a  total  cost  of  nine  thousand 
eight  hundred  dollars.  In  most  respects  the  arrangements  of  No.  3 
are  similar  to  those  already  described,  being  a  model  of  convenience 
and  well  adapted  to  the  purposes  for  which  constructed. 

The  lot  on  which  house  No.  4  stands,  No.  85  of  Chute's  Home- 
stead addition,  is  fifty  by  one  hundred  and  forty-three  feet  in  area 
and  was  bought  for  twelve  hundred  dollars  in  the  year  1891.  The 
building,  which  was  erected  two  years  later,  is  located  on  Maumee 
road,  between  Ohio  and  Chute  streets,  and,  like  the  others,  is  an 
imposing  brick  edifice  handsomely  finished  and  fully  equipped  with 
the  necessary  apparatus,  and  represents  a  cost  of  five  thousand  two 
hundred  twenty  dollars. 

-No.  5  is  located  on  Broadway,  between  Hendricks  and  Lavinia 
streets,  the  lot  being  No.  32  of  the  G.  W.Ewing  addition,  and  costing" 
the  sum  of  one  thousand  six  hundred  fifty  dollars.  It  was  purchased 
in  1890,  and  in  1893  the  building  was  erected  at  an  outlay  to  the  city 
of  five  thousand  one  hundred  eighty-three  dollars;  neither  pains  nor 
expense  were  spared  to  make  this  house  complete  in  all  of  its  parts 
and  it  stands  an  enduring  monument  to  the  progressive  spirit  of  the 
people,  who  by  every  means  at  their  command  have  endeavored  to 
promote  the  efficiency  of  a  department  upon  which  in  no  small  degree 
the  safety  of  their  property  depends. 

No.  6,  located  on  the  northeast  corner  of  Wells  and  Third 
streets,  was  also  built  in  the  year  1893  and  cost  the  sum  of  five  thou- 
sand one  hundred  ninety  dollars.  The  lot,  which  is  part  of  No.  29 
of  Farmer's  addition,  came  into  the  city's  possession  in  1890  and 
represents  a  value  of  one  thousand  four  hundred  fifty  dollars.     No. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  307 

6  is  similar  in  design  with  Nos.  3,  4  and  5,  except  a  little  larger, 
having  a  frontage  of  thirty-four  feet,  a  depth  of  seventy-seven  feet, 
the  interior  arrangements  on  the  first  floor  providing  for  steamer, 
hose  wagon,  sitting  room  and  stalls  for  four  horses.  The  second 
floor  contains  a  commodious  dormitory,  bath  room,  captain's  office 
and  hay  loft,  the  exterior  in  most  respects  being  like  the  buildings 
already  described. 

No.  7  building  is  on  lot  No.  33  of  Wilson's  addition  and  was 
purchased  at  a  cost  of  seven  hundred  seventy-five  dollars  in  the  year 
1890.  The  building,  which  cost  the  sum  of  four  thousand  six  hun- 
dred fifty  dollars,  was  erected  in  1898,  stands  on  Main  street,  south- 
west of  St.  Mary's  river,  and  affords  fire  protection  for  the  western 
part  of  the  city.  It  is  conveniently  arranged  and  an  ornament  to 
the  locality  in  which  it  stands;  one  steamer,  one  hose  wagon,  four 
horses  and  six  men  are  housed  in  No.  7. 

No.  8  was  built  in  1898  also  and  cost  the  city  four  thousand 
seven  hundred  dollars.  It  is  located  in  Tyler's  addition  in  the  south- 
western part  of  the  city,  standing  on  Fairfield  avenue,  and  in  size, 
design  and  interior  arrangements  is  similar  in  nearly  every  respect 
to  Nos.  3,  4,  6  and  7.  The  lot  was  bought  in  1898  for  one  thousand 
two  hundred  fifty  dollars,  making  the  total  cost  of  the  property  five 
thousand  nine  hundred  fifty  dollars.  A  force  of  six  men  is  stationed 
here  and  the  apparatus  consists  of  one  steamer,  one  hose  wagon  and 
six  horses. 

The  last  independent  fire  organization  to  disband  was  the  Alert 
Hook  and  Ladder  Company,  which  ceased  to  exist  in  the  year  1890, 
since  which  time  the  department,  as  a  compact  body,  has  continued  as 
it  is  today.  Since  1892  all  members  of  the  department  have  received 
full  pay  for  their  services  and  it  is  needless  to  state  that  in  point  of 
efficiency  they  will  compare  favorably  with  any  similar  force  in 
Indiana,  or  any  other  state.  The  oldest  fireman  in  the  city  is  Michael 
Connors,  who  joined  the  department  in  1863  and  has  been  continu- 
ously on  duty  since  that  time,  a  period  of  forty-two  years  of  faithful, 
conscientious  service.  He  is  now  captain  of  engine  house  No.  2 
and  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  judicious  officials  on  the  force. 

The  following  are  the  names  of  the  captains  of  the  different 
buildings,  with  the  number  of  men  under  their  command:     No.  1, 


308  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

Captain  Ferdinand  Schroeder,  fifteen  men;  No.  2,  Capt.  Michael 
Connors,  who  has  six  men  in  charge;  No.  3  has  a  force  of  seven 
men,  commanded  by  Capt.  George  W.  Jasper ;  No.  4,  John  Stahlhut, 
captain,  and  six  men  constitute  his  force;  at  No.  5  there  are  six  men 
under  Capt.  George  Troutman;  No.  6  also  houses  six  men,  whose 
leader  is  Capt.  Christ.  Rohans ;  Nos,  7  and  8  have  six  men  each,  their 
respective  captains  being  A.  J.  Baker  and  John  Huber.  John 
Schroeder  is  superintendent  of  the  fire  alarm  and  police  of  the  de- 
partment. 

The  Firemen's  Pension  Fund  of  Fort  Wayne  was  inaugurated 
several  years  ago  and  is  a  safe  and  sure  means  of  protection  in  case 
of  accident  or  death,  having  at  this  time  an  available  fund  of  nearly 
twenty  thousand  dollars,  all  of  which  is  judiciously  invested.  The 
fund  is  maintained  by  voluntary  donations  from  friends  of  the  de- 
partment and  other  well-to-do  people  benevolently  disposed,  by  as- 
sessments paid  at  regular  intervals  by  the  members,  and  by  the  pro- 
ceeds from  improvement  bonds.  The  fund  is  carefully  and  judi- 
ciously managed  by  wise  and  conservative  business  men,  and  is 
greatly  appreciated  by  those  whom  it  is  intended  to  benefit,  provid- 
ing, as  it  does,  a  certain  indemnity  in  case  of  accident  or  disability 
while  on  duty,  and  in  case  of  death  a  specific  sum  to  be  paid  to  the 
family  of  the  deceased.  Any  fireman  being  permanently  disabled 
is  allowed  the  sum  of  fifty  dollars  per  month  during  life,  a  most 
commendable  feature,  and  certainly  encouraging  to  those  who  fol- 
low a  vocation  where  every  call  to  duty  may  prove  a  call  to  dan- 
gers involving  broken  limbs,  maimed  or  bruised  bodies,  or  perhaps 
death  itself  in  its  most  horrible  and  aggravated  form.  There  is 
also  a  fund  for  the  retirement  of  the  members  of  the  department  at 
the  expiration  of  a  certain  period  of  continuous  service,  this  being 
one  of  the  especially  commendable  provisions  of  the  organization. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  309 


CHAPTER  XIV 


WATER  WORKS. 


BY  GRAHAM   N.  BEERY. 


The  necessity  of  supplying  Fort  Wayne  with  an  adequate  supply 
of  water  early  became  apparent,  but  it  was  not  until  about  1875  that 
the  matter  was  taken  up  in  earnest  and  thoroughly  canvassed  and  a 
movement  inaugurated  to  install  a  plant  which  should  meet  all  of 
the  growing  demands  of  the  city  for  a  number  of  years  to  come. 
After  considerable  agitation  on  the  part  of  the  public,  the  common 
council,  in  the  spring  of  1876,  took  definite  action  by  engaging  a 
hydraulic  engineer  to  prepare  plans  and  specifications,  which  in  due 
time  were  submitted  and  referred  to  the  proper  committee.  Some 
time  prior  to  the  report  on  Mr.  Lane's  plans  the  owners  of  the  canal 
submitted  a  proposition  in  the  form  of  a  contract  to  construct  a 
system  of  water  works  on  the  same  general  plan  as  the  one  under  con- 
sideration, the  canal  feeder  to  be  used  as  the  source  of  supply.  The 
estimate  under  this  proposition  was  for  21.18  miles  of  piping  and 
the  erection  of  a  large  stand  pipe  two  hundred  feet  high  and  five 
feet  in  diameter,  the  plant  to  be  finished  and  turned  over  to  the  city 
in  satisfactory  order  for  the  sum  of  three  hundred  and  eighty  thou- 
sand dollars.  The  proposition  appearing  not  only  plausible,  as  far 
as  the  general  features  of  the  plan  were  concerned,  but  reasonable  as 
to  cost  of  construction,  the  majority  of  the  council  voted  in  favor 
of  its  adoption.     While  satisfactory  to  the  city  fathers,  the  proposi- 


310  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

tion  was  far  from  meeting  the  approval  of  a  number  of  public  spirited 
citizens,  certain  of  whom  obtained  a  temporary  restraining  order, 
thus  putting  an  effective  check  to  the  work  until  the  court  could 
pass  upon  the  matter.  Before  the  final  adjudication,  however,  an 
election  was  held,  with  the  Lane  plan  as  an  issue,  thus  bringing  the 
question  of  its  adoption  or  rejection  before  the  people  of  the  several 
wards  for  their  decision.  The  contest  proved  quite  animated  and 
gave  rise  to  no  little  warm  feeling  and  excitement,  but  the  canvass- 
ing of  the  vote  revealed  the  fact  that  not  a  single  individual  favor- 
ing the  proposition  had  been  elected.  With  this  agitation  ended  all 
action  on  the  subject  of  water  works  for  a  little  more  than  three 
years,  but  the  growth  of  the  city  and  the  corresponding  increase  of 
danger  from  fire  could  not  long  close  the  eyes  of  the  people  to  the 
necessity  of  providing  a  better  defense  against  this  destructive 
agency  than  the  inadequate  fire  department  as  then  equipped ;  accord- 
ingly, on  the  15th  day  of  May,  1879,  the  council  authorized  the 
water  works  trustees  to  employ  any  competent  hydraulic  engineer 
whom  they  should  see  fit  to  select,  and  have  him  to  prepare  the  neces- 
sary plans,  and  report  the  same  at  his  earliest  convenience. 

J.  D.  Cook,  of  Toledo,  was  the  engineer  selected,  and  on  July 
5th  of  the  above  year  he  submitted  his  plans  and  specifications,  which 
failed  to  meet  the  approval  of  the  water  works  board  and  a  majority 
of  the  council,  for  the  reason  that  they  contemplated  the  construction 
of  a  reservoir.  The  question  of  the  adoption  of  the  Cook  proposition 
was  also  submitted  to  a  popular  vote,  and  in  order  that  the  matter 
might  be  intelligently  considered  by  the  people,  the  plan  was  printed 
in  pamphlet  form  in  both  English  and  German,  and  a  copy  provided 
for  every  voter  in  the  different  wards.  So  powerfully  did  the  neces- 
sity of  a  water  works  plant  appeal  to  the  people  that  the  proposition 
was  carried  by  a  very  decided  majority,  twenty-five  hundred  and 
thirty-three  out  of  a  total  of  three  thousand  and  ninety-four  votes 
being  in  favor  of  the  plan,  and  five  hundred  and  ninety-one  against  it. 

After  the  common  council  had  ratified  the  decision  of  the  people 
the  water  works  were  ordered  constructed,  and  as  soon  as  possible 
work  was  begun  and  pushed  forward  as  rapidly  as  the  magnitude 
and  importance  of  the  undertaking  would  admit.  Mr.  Cook's  sal- 
ary, as  manager,  was  fixed  at  twenty-five  hundred  dollars  per  year, 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  311 

and  the  trustees  were  each  to  receive  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
a  year  for  their  services.  On  October  21,  1879,  contracts  were  let  as 
follows:  Two  engines  and  four  boilers  from  Holly  &  Company, 
Lockport,  New  York,  $30,500.00;  pipe  and  laying  of  the  same,  R.  D. 
Wood  &  Company,  Philadelphia,  $126,380.17;  valves,  Ludlow  Valve 
Company,  Troy,  New  York,  $3,377.30;  hydrants,  Matthews  Hy- 
drant Company,  Philadelphia,  $8,490.00;  construction  of  reservoir, 
building,  etc.,  John  Langhor  and  M.  Baltes,  $59,627.36;  engine 
house,  Moellering  &  Paul,  $8,490.00;  the  total  amounting  to  $236,- 
865.36,  which  was  $33,134.36  less  than  Mr.  Cook's  estimate  of 
$270,000.00,  the  difference  being  devoted  to  contingencies. 

Ground  was  broken  in  the  fall  of  1880,  and  the  construction  of 
the  works  as  originally  planned  was  completed  within  the  time  speci- 
fied, with  the  exception  of  the  reservoir  in  the  seventh  ward,  which 
was  finished  later  at  an  additional  expenditure  of  about  twenty  thou- 
sand dollars. 

One  of  the  subjects  of  the  liveliest  contention  in  the  council,  by 
the  water  works  commissions  and  through  the  columns  of  the  local 
press,  was  the  source  of  an  adequate  supply  of  pure,  fresh,  whole- 
some water  for  the  use  of  the  city.  Quite  a  number  were  in  favor  of 
pumping  the  water  from  the  St.  Joseph  river,  others  advocated  the 
feeder  canal,  and  the  owners  of  that  property  sought  by  every  means 
at  their  command  to  sell  it  to  the  city,  urging  that  the  canal,  being 
nearly  twenty-five  feet  higher  than  the  river,  would  not  only  furnish 
the  requisite  amount  of  water,  but  suppfy  sufficient  power  to  force  it 
through  the  mains.  The  third  considered,  and  the  one  finally  adopt- 
ed, was  Spy  Run,  a  beautiful  stream  which  enters  the  city  from  the 
north  and  flows  into  the  St.  Mary's  river  a  short  distance  east  of  the 
Clinton  street  bridge.  Of  the  superiority  of  the  water  of  this  stream 
over  that  of  the  other  sources  under  consideration  there  was  no  ques- 
tion, but  as  to  whether  or  not  the  supply  would  prove  adequate  for 
all  purposes  became  a  matter  of  serious  doubt.  Despite  this  misgiv- 
ing, however,  the  city  erected  its  pumping  house  on  Spy  Run  at  a 
point  east  of  Clinton  street  and  equipped  it  with  a  valuable  low  pres- 
sure engine  capable  of  pumping  three  million  ga1lons  daily,  in  addi- 
tion to  which  there  was  also  installed  a  fine  high  pressure  engine,  a 
battery  of  boilers,  and  all  other  machinery  and  appliances  essential 


3i2  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

to  the  complete  equipment  of  the  first-class  plant  which  the  city  or- 
dered constructed. 

To  increase  the  water  supply  a  large  basin  was  scooped  from  the 
gravel  between  the  pumping"  station  and  Spy  Run,  in  the  bottoms  of 
which  a  number  of  strong*  flowing  springs  were  struck,  thus  very  ma- 
terially adding  to  the  amount  obtained  from  the  creek,  the  water  be- 
ing run  through  influent  pipes  fitted  with  rock  filters.  Originally 
about  twenty  miles  of  piping  was  put  doAvn,  through  which  the 
water  was  supposed  to  be  forced  with  such  tremendous  power  from 
the  elevated  reservoir  that  it  could  easily  surmount  the  tops  of  the 
highest  buildings  in  the  city  by  making  a  mere  hose  connection,  and 
thus  furnish  an  abundant  supply  for  all  general  purposes,  besides  af- 
fording adequate  protection  in  case  of  fire.  The  first  summer's 
drought  that  followed  the  completion  of  the  plant  demonstrated  fully 
the  inadequacy  of  the  supply;  accordingly  recourse  was  had  to  the 
canal  owners,  who,  in  response  to  the  request  of  the  department  for 
assistance,  tapped  the  aqueduct  over  Spy  Run,  thus  furnishing  a  suf- 
ficiency of  water  not  only  for  all  practical  purposes,  but  insure  the 
city  against  the  danger  of  conflagration  also.  While  never  posi- 
tively refused,  this  additional  supply  was  for  a  considerable  time  the 
cause  of  strained  relations  between  the  municipal  government  and 
the  owners  of  the  canal,  in  consequence  of  which  various  means  were 
sought  to  reinforce  the  volume  of  Spy  Run  so  as  to  relieve  the  city 
from  the  necessity  of  soliciting  assistance,  which  should  have  been 
voluntarily  and  freely  granted.  To  this  end  a  large  pipe  was  finally 
laid  from  the  basin  to  the  St.  Joseph  river,  and  a  large  rotary  pump 
installed  for  forcing  the  water  into  the  pumping  basin  from  what 
was  known  as  the  Rudisill  pool,  but  the  plan  did  not  fully  answer 
the  purpose  for  which  intended  and  at  best  afforded  only  temporary 
relief.  As  already  indicated,  efforts  had  been  made  from  time  to  time 
to  sell  the  canal  feeder  to  the  city,  but,  failing  in  this,  the  owners  of 
the  property,  who  also  controlled  the  Rudisill  dam,  cut  the  latter  in 
the  early  part  of  the  summer,  yhen  danger  from  a  water  famine  was 
the  greatest,  thus  bringing  the  people  of  the  city,  as  well  as  the  board 
of  commissioners,  face  to  face  with  a  serious  and  perplexing  problem 
exceedingly  difficult  of  solution.  To  meet  this  discouraging  condi- 
tion of  affairs  various  expedients  were  resorted  to,  the  one  finally 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  313 

adopted  being  the  boring*  of  a  series  of  wells  along  Spy  Run,  below 
the  pumping  basin,  and  connecting  them  as  soon  as  completed  with 
the  pumping  station,  the  water  in  the  basin  having  fallen  so  rapidly 
under  the  steady  consumption  of  the  parched  city  that  but  a  few 
inches  remained  above  the  top  of  the  big  suction  pipe  when  the  first 
of  the  wells  was  connected.  The  steady  flow  of  a  strong  stream  of 
pure,  wholesome  water  adding  its  volume  to  the  basin  was  hailed  with 
delight  by  the  people,  furnishing  as  it  did  an  ample  supply  for  all 
domestic  and  public  purposes,  besides  guaranteeing  protection  should 
the  fire  fiend  at  any  time  break  forth  to  menace  the  safety  of  the  city. 

These  wells,  of  which  there  were  thirty  in  number,  each  eight 
inches  in  diameter,  and  driven  to  an  average  depth  of  fifty-two  feet, 
were  connected  with  a  large  suction  pipe  which  led  directly  to  the 
engines  in  the  pumping  station,  and  at  their  normal  capacity  could 
furnish  an  average  of  forty  million  gallons  every  twenty-four  hours, 
and  if  necessary  a  still  greater  amount.  So  fully  satisfied  were  the 
water  works  commissioners  with  the  adequacy  of  the  supply  that  in 
1889  they  considered  the  advisability  of  dispensing  with  the  water 
from  Spy  Run  and  using  only  that  from  the  wells.  In  due  time  the 
proposition,  which  appears  to  have  been  received  with  general  favor 
by  the  public,  was  carried  into  effect,  since  which  time  the  city's  sup- 
ply of  water  has  come  from  a  source  far  below  the  surface  of  the 
earth,  which  fact  accounts  for  its  purity,  wholesomeness  and  excel- 
lence for  all  purposes,  being  superior  in  these  respects  to  that  used 
by  the  majority  of  cities. 

The  rapid  growth  of  the  city,  with  a  corresponding  increase  in 
the  demands  upon  the  plant,  soon  taxed  its  capacity  to  the  utmost  and 
rendered  necessary  an  enlargement  of  its  facilities;  accordingly, 
about  the  year  1889,  an  addition  was  made  to  the  pump  house  at  a 
cost  of  sixteen  thousand  dollars,  in  which  was  placed  a  fine  triple 
expansion  low  pressure  Gaskill  engine,  capable  of  forcing  through 
the  mains  an  average  of  six  million  gallons  of  water  daily,  the  price 
paid  for  the  equipment  amounting  to  thirty  thousand  five  hundred 
dollars. 

The  original  plan  of  pipe  distribution  unfortunately  was  not  on 
a  scale  commensurate  with  all  demands;  consequently  many  of  the 
mains  had  to  be  taken  out  from  time  to  time  and  replaced  by  others 


314  THE   MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

of  greater  capacity.  The  erection  of  manufacturing  establishments 
in  outlying  wards  also  demanded  a  general  increase  of  the  pipe  serv- 
ice, to  meet  which  the  mains  have  been  greatly  extended  until  every 
part  of  the  city  had  either  been  reached  or  made  easily  accessible,  there 
being  at  this  time  between  ninety-five  and  a  hundred  miles  of  piping, 
tapped  by  seven  hundred  and  thirty-four  hydrants  of  the  latest  and 
most  approved  type.  The  vast  extension  of  piping,  which  ramifies 
the  city  in  a  perfect  network  of  iron,  is  the  result  of  still  later  im- 
provements in  the  water  works  system  than  those  already  indicated. 

So  rapid  had  been  the  growth  in  population  of  recent  years,  and 
so  great  the  number  of  industries  established,  that  the  plant,  with 
the  several  additions  noted,  was  found  inadequate  to  furnish  the 
service  demanded ;  accordingly,  about  1899,  a  second  station,  costing 
about  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  was  established  on  Van  Buren 
street,  the  average  capacity  of  which  is  eight  million  gallons  per  day. 
Later  the  Holly  Manufacturing  Company,  of  Lockport,  New  York, 
installed  at  this  station  a  six-million-gallon  pumping  engine,  which, 
with  the  former  equipment,  is  capable  of  supplying  the  entire  city  at 
certain  seasons,  without  any  assistance  from  the  original  station  on 
the  North  Side. 

About  the  time  of  this  addition,  perhaps  a  little  later,  a  com- 
pressed plant,  capable  of  delivering  four  million  gallons  daily,  was 
installed  at  station  No.  1  by  the  Bass  Foundry  and  Machine  Com- 
pany, bringing  the  average  capacity  of  the  works  as  they  are  now 
constituted  up  to  considerable  in  excess  of  fourteen  million  gallons 
every  twenty- four  hours.  To  supply  the  vast  volume  of  water,  twelve 
additional  wells  have  been  put  down,  which,  with  the  number  pre- 
viously in  use,  it  is  believed  will  furnish  the  city  with  an  unfailing 
source  of  pure,  wholesome  water  for  many  years  to  come. 

From  the  beginning  to  the  present  time  the  affairs  of  the  water 
works  have  been  wisely  and  economically  administered,  a  number  of 
the  city's  most  capable  business  men  having  served  as  members  of 
the  board  of  trustees,  while  none  but  engineers  of  skill  and  experi- 
ence have  been  intrusted  to  operate  and  superintend  the  plant.  As 
already  indicated,  there  are  over  ninety-five  miles  of  pipes,  supplying 
considerably  in  excess  of  ten  thousand  consumers,  seven  hundred  and 
thirty-four  hydrants  and  twelve  private  hydrants,  while  two  thou- 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  315 

sand  six  hundred  consumers  are  served  by  meter.  Although  supply- 
ing water  at  a  heavy  cost  for  the  wells  producing  it  and  the  neces- 
sary machinery  and  equipment,  the  works  are  so  conducted  as  to 
make  the  cost  of  operation  less  perhaps  than  that  of  any  other  city  of 
the  same  size  in  the  country,  the  yearly  expense,  including  repairs 
and  maintenance,  amounting  to  about  fifty-five  or  sixty  thousand  dol- 
lars, while  the  receipts  from  all  sources  are  something  like  eighty 
thousand  dollars,  certainly  a  magnificent  showing  when  brought  into 
comparison  with  that  of  other  places  where  the  same  system  is  used. 
The  management  of  the  works  at  this  time  is  in  capable  hands, 
the  board  being  composed  of  enterprising,  public-spirited  men,  who, 
mindful  of  the  trust  reposed  in  them,  exercise  sound  judgment  and 
wise  discretion  in  looking  after  one  of  the  people's  most  important 
interests.  Edward  White  is  president  of  the  board,  H.  T.  Hogan 
and  Julius  Tonne  completing  its  personnel.  F.  W.  Urbahns  is  the 
genial  and  efficient  secretary,  Joseph  A.  Biemer,  assistant  secretary, 
and  F.  S.  Dontonwill,  engineer. 


316  THE   MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 


CHAPTER  XV 


TELEPHONES. 


BY  GRAHAM   N.  BEERY. 


During  the  summer  of  1869  Sydney  C.  Lumbard  erected  the 
necessary  lines  of  wire  and,  connecting  them  with  a  central  station 
in  the  third  story  of  Foellinger's  block,  on  the  west  side  of  Calhoun 
street,  north  of  Main,  established  the  first  telephone  in  the  city  of 
Fort  Wayne.  At  the  various  terminals  the  Bell  patent  telephones 
and  transmitters  were  attached  and  the  entire  apparatus  put  in  opera- 
tion. For  a  while  the  apparatus  proved  reasonably  successful  and, 
under  the  management  of  Mr.  Lumbard,  over  one  hundred  subscrib- 
ers were  secured,  but  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  the  patronage  was 
gradually  withdrawn  and  the  concern  went  out  of  business. 

In  July  following  the  establishment  of  the  Lumbard,  or  Fort 
Wayne  Exchange,  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  began 
the  erection  of  a  series  of  lines  throughout  the  city,  establishing  an 
office  on  the  second  floor  of  the  Nill  building,  west  side  of  Calhoun, 
north  of  Wayne.  To  this  central  station  the  various  lines  converged, 
and  at  the  different  terminals  throughout  the  city  they  were  connected 
with  phones  and  transmitters  invented  by  Thomas  A.  Edison.  Quite 
a  number  of  parties  subscribed  and  for  a  while  success  appeared  to 
attend  the  enterprise,  but  the  patronage  not  being  sufficiently  liberal 
to  justify  the  company  to  prosecute  it  further,  the  business  was 
finally  discontinued,   or  succeeded  rather,   by  the   Bell   Telephone 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  317 

Company,  which  still  maintains  an  exchange  in  the  city.  The  latter 
enterprise  at  one  time  had  a  monopoly  of  the  telephone  business  in 
Fort  Wayne  and  for  a  number  of  years  commanded  a  large  and 
lucrative  patronage,  but  the  absence  of  competition  enabling  the 
management  to  charge  rates  which  the  public  deemed  somewhat  ex- 
cessive, a  movement  looking  to  the  organization  of  an  independent 
company  was  finally  inaugurated,  among  the  leaders  of  the  same 
being  the  following  well  known  citizens :  Charles  S.  Bash,  W.  J. 
Vesey,  Charles  McCulloch,  Samuel  M.  Foster,  George  W.  Beers 
and  Capt.  C.  Hettler.  In  1896  these  gentlemen,  with  several  others 
as  public  spirited  as  themselves,  established  what  is  known  as  the 
Home  Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company,  organizing  under  the 
laws  of  Indiana  and  furnishing  the  requisite  capital  with  which  to 
finance  the  enterprise  and  put  it  upon  a  sound  working  basis. 
Backed  by  men  of  solid  financial  standing  and  wide  business  ex- 
perience, the  new  company  grew  rapidly  in  favor,  and  within  a  com- 
paratively brief  period  its  instruments  were  installed  in  nearly  every 
business  house  and  manufacturing  establishment  of  the  city  and 
many  private  residences,  the  people  responding  liberally  to  its  sup- 
port by  becoming  patrons,  the  charter  of  the  management  being  such 
as  to  inspire  confidence  on  the  part  of  the  public  and  the  assurance 
of  fair  and  honorable  treatment.  By  always  pursuing  a  safe  and 
straightforward  policy,  and  maintaining  between  itself  and  the 
public  a  reciprocity  of  interests,  the  company  has  been  enabled  not 
only  to  make  almost  unprecedented  progress  in  the  extension  of  its 
business  and  influence,  but  to  reach  a  high  standing  in  the  confidence 
of  its  patrons  and  friends  and  in  business  circles  such  as  few  enter- 
prises of  the  kind  attain. 

During  the  first  eleven  years  the  company  maintained  its  ex- 
change and  offices  in  rented  quarters,  but  in  190 1  erected  a  building 
of  its  own  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Main  and  Clinton  streets,  a 
splendid  three-story  brick  edifice,  handsomely  finished  and  furnished 
with  ample  facilities  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  rapidly  growing 
business,  and  costing  the  sum  of  sixteen  thousand  five  hundred  dol- 
lars. The  exchange  and  offices  of  the  company,  with  the  office  of 
the  National  Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company,  occupy  the  third 
floor  of  this  building,  the  first  and  second  stories  being  devoted  to 


318  THE   MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

general  office  purposes  and  rented  to  a  number  of  the  leading  busi- 
ness and  professional  men  of  the  city.  Subsequently,  in  1902,  a 
second  building  was  erected  at  the  southeast  corner  of  Calhoun  and 
Masterson  streets,  on  the  South  Side,  in  which  a  thoroughly 
equipped  exchange  was  installed  in  order  to  facilitate  the  business  in 
that  part  of  the  city,  this  being  a  fine  one-story  brick  edifice  with  no 
feature  of  a  first-class  exchange  omitted,  the  cost  of  its  construction 
amounting  to  six  thousand  dollars.  In  addition  to  these  two  splendid 
properties,  the  company  owns  other  valuable  real  estate  in  Fort 
Wayne  and  elsewhere,  the  whole  representing  investments  to  the 
amount  of  forty  thousand  dollars,  which  figure  furnishes  a  tolerably 
correct  idea  of  the  proportions  to  which  the  business  has  grown,  as 
well  as  indication  of  the  future  prosperity  of  the  enterprise. 

The  years  in  which  the  buildings  were  erected  witnessed  the  com- 
plete reconstruction  of  the  plant,  including  the  discarding  of  all  the 
instruments  and  apparatus  outside  and  then  in  use,  and  the  installing 
of  an  entirely  new  and  greatly  improved  equipment  at  an  expense  of 
eighty  thousand  dollars,  since  which  time  the  plant  has  ranked  with 
the  most  thorough  and  complete  in  the  country,  being  second  to  none 
in  the  matters  of  improvement  and  efficiency  of  service.  In  addition 
to  the  city  exchange,  the  company  has  rural  lines,  or  connections  with 
every  town  and  village  in  Allen  county,  and  also  maintains  a  long 
distance  service  by  means  of  the  National  Telephone  and  Telegraph 
Company,  over  whose  lines  alone  the  latter  branch  of  the  business  is 
conducted.  At  this  time  there  are  sixty  operators  at  the  main  and 
branch  exchanges,  and  thirty-five  hundred  instruments  in  use,  the 
service,  as  already  indicated,  being  confined  to  Fort  Wayne  and 
Allen  county.  The  company  was  organized  by  Fort  Wayne  parties 
and  has  ever  been  maintained  by  Fort  Wayne  capital,  being  altogether 
a  local  enterprise  in  which  many  of  the  leading  business  men  of  the 
city  are  interested,  the  stockholders  at  the  present  time  numbering 
about  one  hundred  and  forty.  The  following  are  the  officials  of  the 
company  last  elected:  Charles  S.  Bash,  president;  John  B.  Reuss, 
vice-president;  W.  L.  Moellering,  secretary,  and  Max  B.  Fisher, 
treasurer. 

The  National  Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company,  to  which 
reference  is  made  in  preceding  paragraphs,  and  which  is  also  a  local 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  319 

enterprise  of  considerable  magnitude  and  far-reaching  influence, 
was  organized  in  1897,  being  chartered  as  a  corporation  on  July  1st, 
of  that  year.  This  company,  which  represents  something  like  one 
hundred  and  forty  stockholders,  owns  valuable  exchanges  in  the 
cities  of  Auburn,  Kendallville  and  New  Haven,  Indiana,  and  Sturgis, 
Michigan,  and  in  addition  thereto  maintains  a  long-distance  service, 
besides  doing  associated  press  work  by  means  of  its  telegraphic  de- 
partment. The  company  is  well  financed  and  conducted  upon  a  solid 
business  basis,  and  by  reason  of  efficient  service  it  has  grown  rapidly 
in  public  favor,  being  at  this  time  one  of  the  most  popular  enterprises 
in  a  city  noted  for  the  number  and  high  standing  of  its  corporate 
institutions.  The  officers  are :  President,  H.  C.  Paul ;  vice-president, 
Charles  S.  Bash;  secretary,  William  L.  Moellering;  assistant  secre- 
tary, E.  M.  Bopp;  treasurer,  W.  A.  Bohn. 

As  indicated  in  a  preceding  paragraph,  the  Central  Union  (Bell) 
Telephone  Company  has  long  maintained  an  exchange  in  Fort 
Wayne,  and  at  one  time  enjoyed  a  large  and  lucrative  patronage, 
with  no  competitor  in  the  field.  Since  the  organization  of  the  home 
company,  however,  it  has  gradually  discontinued  its  local  business, 
devoting  especial  attention  to  the  long  distance  service,  in  which  it 
excels  the  lines  of  the  Central  Union,  permeating  the  entire  country 
like  a  network  of  wire,  connecting  nearly  every  city  and  town  in 
the  United  States,  and  proving  of  unestimable  value  to  all  lines  of 
business  and  a  priceless  boon  to  civilization.  For  the  purpose  of 
communicating  with  remote  points,  quite  a  number  of  the  business 
houses  and  manufacturing  establishments  of  Fort  Wayne  retain 
Central  Union  instruments,  and  they  are  still  to  be  found  in  not  a 
few  private  residences,  although  the  company  cares  little  for  the 
latter  class  of  business,  indeed  preferring  to  do  without  the  patronage 
altogether.     The  exchange  in  this  city  is  in  the  Tri-State  Building. 


320  THE   MAUMEE    RIVER   BASIN. 


CHAPTER  XVI 


STATE  SCHOOL  FOR  FEEBLE  MINDED  YOUTH. 


BY  GRAHAM  N.  BEEBY. 


The  history  of  this  splendid  institution  dates  from  the  year  1879, 
at  which  time  provisions  were  made  by  the  legislature  for  an  asylum 
for  feeble  minded  children,  the  same  to  be  an  adjunct  of  the  Soldiers' 
and  Sailors'  Orphans'  Home  at  Knightstown.  Means  were  thus 
provided  for  caring  for  a  class  of  defectives  who  up  to  the  time 
designated  had  either  become  burdens  to  their  families  or  public 
charges,  in  either  of  which  case  they  were  greatly  neglected,  few 
provisions  being  made  for  their  comfort,  and  none  whatever  for 
their  training.  The  first  year's  report  shows  that  no  feeble  minded 
children  had  been  received  at  the  institution  so  generously  prepared 
for  them,  but  the  year  following  quite  a  number  arrived  and  were 
cared  for  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  the  institution  wide  publicity  and 
recommend  it  to  the  favorable  consideration  of  such  parents  as  had 
mentally  defective  offspring. 

The  popularity  of  the  asylum  continued  to  grow  from  year  to 
year,  until  by  the  end  of  1886  one  hundred  and  eighteen  feeble 
minded  children  had  been  received,  of  whom  one  hundred  and  seven- 
teen were  withdrawn,  some  of  them  permanently,  the  rest  being  sent 
to  other  institutions  to  be  cared  for. 

Various  disasters  overtook  the  asylum  while  it  was  connected 
with  the  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Orphans'  Home,  in  consequence  of 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  321 

which  the  legislature,  in  1887,  decided  to  give  the  institution  an 
independent  existence  under  the  name  of  the  School  for  Feeble 
Minded  Youth,  and  appropriated  a  sufficient  sum  of  money  to  pur- 
chase grounds  and  erect  the  necessary  buildings,  ten  thousand  dol- 
lars being  set  aside  for  the  former  purpose  and  forty  thousand  for 
the  latter.  The  initial  action  being  taken,  there  was  an  animated 
struggle  in  the  general  assembly  as  to  where  the  institution  should 
be  located,  quite  a  number  of  cities  and  towns  throughout  the  state 
presenting  their  respective  advantages  as  the  most  eligible  and  desir- 
able site  for  the  proposed  buildings.  Among  the  number,  Fort 
Wayne  was  ably  represented  and  never  were  the  energy  and  deter- 
mination of  her  citizens  better  illustrated,  or  more  strikingly  dis- 
played, than  in  the  contest,  nothing  being  left  undone  in  the  way  of 
pressing  the  city's  claims  or  extolling  its  many  advantages.  The 
struggle,  which  as  already  indicated  was  long  and  lively,  finally 
ended  in  victory  for  the  Summit  City,  immediately  after  which  a 
board  of  trustees  was  appointed,  E.  A.  K.  Hackett,  of  Fort  Wayne, 
being  chosen  president.  On  the  19th  of  May,  1887,  the  board  pur- 
chased as  a  site  for  the  institution  a  tract  of  fifty-four  and  one-half 
acres  of  land  one  and  a  half  miles  northeast  of  the  city,  on  which 
was  begun  in  the  spring  of  the  following  year  the  erection  of  a 
building,  after  plans  and  specifications  prepared  by  Architects  Wing 
&  Mahurin,  of  Fort  Wayne.  For  the  site  and  building  the  first  ap- 
propriation of  fifty  thousand  dollars  was  used. 

In  planning  the  structure  the  board  and  architects  had  in  mind 
the  comfort  and  convenience  of  the  poor  unfortunates  whom  it  was 
designed  to  benefit,  hence  great  care  was  exercised  to  make  it  ade- 
quately meet  their  wants  and  prove  a  home  in  which,  as  nearly  as 
possible,  they  should  feel  satisfied. 

The  contract  for  the  main  building,  which  was  all  that  the  first 
appropriation  covered,  was  let  to  William  Moellering,  of  Fort 
Wayne,  who  completed  it  according  to  agreement  in  the  fall  of  1888, 
but  was  obliged  to  wait  until  the  state's  financial  condition  improved 
before  receiving  his  pay.  Subsequently  the  Brooks  Brothers  entered 
into  a  contract  to  build  the  wings  of  the  main  structure,  also  a 
hospital,  cold  storage  building,  boiler  house  and  laundry,  all  of  which 
were  finished  and  ready  for  use  in  the  month  of  June,  1890.  The 
21 


322  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

appropriation  by  the  legislature  of  1888  amounted  to  the  sum  of  one 
hundred  and  eighty-seven  thousand  dollars,  which  was  expended  in 
the  improvements  above  noted,  in  addition  to  which  there  was  an  ap- 
propriation in  1 89 1  of  thirty-four  thousand  dollars  for  a  school  and 
industrial  building,  both  being  completed  and  ready  for  occupancy 
within  a  reasonable  period.  Other  improvements  were  added  from 
time  to  time  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  inmates,  whose  numbers  from 
the  opening  of  the  institution  continued  to  increase  at  an  un- 
precedented rate,  an  appropriation  of  thirty  thousand  dollars  being 
made  in  1895  for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  a  farm  and  the  erection 
of  the  necessary  buildings  thereon.  The  farm,  which  consists  of  two 
hundred  and  thirty-four  acres,  has  become  one  of  the  prominent 
features  of  the  institution,  affording  a  means  of  labor  and  healthful 
recreation  for  the  larger  boys,  the  majority  of  whom  take  kindly  to 
agriculture  and  gardening,  in  the  pursuit  of  which  they  display  no 
little  efficiency  and  success.  Later  the  necessity  of  custodial  cot- 
tages for  both  boys  and  girls  became  apparent;  accordingly,  in  the 
year  1897  the  general  assembly  appropriated  the  sum  of  forty-two 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars  for  this  purpose,  and  as  soon  as  con- 
ditions would  permit  the  buildings  were  pushed  to  completion  and 
found  to  meet  every  object  for  which  intended. 

Another  much  needed  improvement  was  a  building  for  females 
of  child-bearing  age,  which  was  provided  in  1899  at  a  cost  of  forty 
thousand  dollars,  and  in  1901  an  additional  appropriation  of  two 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars  was  made  to  complete  the  buildings 
on  the  colony  farms  referred  to  in  the  preceding  paragraph.  Specific 
appropriations  have  been  made  at  intervals  for  various  improvements, 
including  among  others,  a  dairy  house,  slaughter  house,  store  house, 
and  coal  house,  the  last  two  of  which  were  finished  in  the  year  1903. 
Briefly  summarized,  the  buildings  of  the  institution  consist  of  the 
main  structure  and  wings,  detached  cottages  for  low-grade  girls 
and  one  for  committed  adult  females,  a  detached  hospital,  school 
house,  industrial  building  and  the  usual  parts  of  a  large  plant,  in- 
cluding boiler  house,  laundry,  farm  wagon  sheds,  fruit  kitchen,  ice 
house,  coal  house,  dairy  and  slaughter  houses,  store  house,  etc.,  all 
on  the  original  plat  of  fifty-five  acres,  more  than  half  of  which  is 
occupied  by  buildings,  lawns  and  play  grounds. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  323 

The  legislature  has  been  liberal  in  its  appropriations  for  the 
comfort  and  convenience  of  the  inmates  of  the  home,  sparing  no 
reasonable  expense  in  providing  for  their  mental  development,  in- 
dustrial training  and  moral  advancement,  as  will  be  seen  by  reference 
to  other  parts  of  this  article.  Briefly  described,  the  main  building 
of  the  home  has  a  frontage  of  four  hundred  feet,  with  large  wings 
at  each  end,  is  a  three-story  brick  edifice,  with  tile  floored  halls, 
and  as  nearly  fire  proof  as  a  building  can  be  made.  The  central 
portion,  or  administration  building,  contains  the  offices  of  the  super- 
intendent, clerk  and  board  of  directors;  also  a  public  floor,  these 
several  apartments  occupying  the  second  story,  the  floor  below  being 
devoted  to  living  rooms,  sitting  and  dining  rooms  and  kitchen  for 
the  use  of  teachers  and  subordinate  officials,  all  of  which  are  finely 
finished,  amply  furnished,  leaving  nothing  to  be  desired  in  the  way 
of  a  substantial,  well  kept  home,  pervaded  throughout  by  the  spirit 
of  harmony  and  content. 

The  third  floor  contains  the  living  apartment  of  the  superintend- 
ent's family,  and  rooms  for  certain  teachers,  while  the  eastern 
dormitory  is  devoted  to  the  use  of  the  boys,  the  one  on  the  west  to 
the  girls,  both  being  spacious,  well  lighted  and  ventilated  and  af- 
fording accommodations  for  several  hundred  inmates.  The  hospital 
is  a  substantial  building,  constructed  on  scientific  principles  and 
equipped  with  all  the  necessary  appliances  for  the  successful  treat- 
ment of  such  patients  as  come  under  the  attending  physician's  care. 
The  other  buildings  are  in  keeping  with  those  described,  being  well 
constructed  of  the  best  material  obtainable  and  admirable  in  their 
adaptation  to  the  uses  for  which  designed. 

Ample  means  have  been  provided  to  insure  not  only  the  comfort 
but  the  safety  of  the  inmates,  the  main  building  and  dormitories 
being  heated  by  steam,  supplied  with  a  complete  system  of  water 
works  and  fire  escapes,  and  lighted  throughout  by  electricity,  the 
institution  maintaining  its  own  electric  light  plant.  The  sanitary 
arrangements  are  complete  in  every  detail,  the  health  of  the  children 
being  of  all  things  the  first  and  most  important  consideration  on  the 
part  of  teachers  and  officials. 

The  first  superintendent  of  the  school  was  John  G.  Blake,  of 
Richmond,  Indiana,  who  entered  upon  his  official  duties  in  1888, 


324  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

and  served  until  1893,  during  which  time  he  brought  the  institu- 
tion to  a  state  of  efficiency  that  met  the  expectations  of  its  friends 
and  justified  the  wisdom  of  the  state  in  its  establishment  and  main- 
tenance. In  Mr.  Blake  were  combined  many  of  the  elements  of  the 
judicious,  executive  and  successful  leader,  being  by  nature  and  train- 
ing well  qualified  to  have  charge  of  such  an  institution  during  its 
formative  period  and  by  his  wisdom  and  sagacity  to  make  it  in- 
finitely more  than  an  experiment.  Popular  with  subordinate  of- 
ficials, teachers  and  inmates,  he  was  also  highly  esteemed  by  the 
board  and  the  general  public  and  his  departure  from  the  school  in 
1893  was  greatly  regretted  by  all  concerned. 

The  successor  of  Mr.  Blake  was  James  H.  Leonard,  who  con- 
sented to  act  as  superintendent  until  a  fit  man  could  be  secured ;  ac- 
cordingly, his  term  was  a  brief  one,  of  less  than  two  months,  taking 
charge  of  the  position  on  May  5,  1893,  and  resigning  on  the  30th 
day  of  June  following. 

In  July  of  the  above  year  Alexander  Johnson,  formerly  secre- 
tary of  the  state  board  of  charities,  and  a  gentleman  of  wide  and 
varied  experience  in  charitable  and  benevolent  work,  accepted  the 
superintendency  and  at  once  inaugurated  an  administration  which 
made  for  the  good  of  the  institution,  as  well  as  reflected  great  credit 
upon  himself.  He  too  possessed  fine  executive  ability,  which  with 
tact  and  strong  individuality  made  him  a  judicious  manager  whose 
will  was  law  to  his  subordinates,  but  whose  kindly  genial  nature 
won  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact. 

The  resignation  of  Mr.  Johnson  was  accepted  by  the  board  on  the 
31st  of  August,  1903,  and  one  day  later  Albert  E.  Carroll  became 
acting  superintendent  and  as  such  continued  until  May  5th  of  the 
following  year,  when  he  was  appointed  superintendent,  the  duties  of 
which  position  he  has  since  discharged  in  a  very  able  and  satisfactory 
manner,  proving  the  right  man  in  the  right  place  and  a  worthy  suc- 
cessor to  the  capable  and  popular  gentleman  who  preceded  him  in 
the  office.  Although  a  young  man,  Mr.  Carroll  possesses  sound 
judgment  and  wise  discretion,  and  since  becoming  the  executive  head 
of  the  school  he  has  introduced  a  number  of  valuable  reforms,  added 
many  needed  improvements,  and  with  rare  tact  and  forethought  has 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  325 

so  administered  affairs  as  to  gain  for  the  institution  wide  popularity 
and  make  it  a  model  of  its  kind. 

The  aim  of  the  school  is  not  only  to  furnish  a  comfortable  home 
and  provide  mental  training  for  the  class  of  unfortunates  which  it 
is  designed  to  benefit,  but  if  possible  to  make  the  more  intelligent  ca- 
pable of  self-support  when  they  leave  the  institution,  to  which  end 
especial  attention  is  devoted  to  industrial  training.  Among  the 
various  trades  and  occupations  in  which  the  boys  receive  instructions 
are  shoemaking,  tailoring,  mattress-making,  carpentry,  brick-mak- 
ing, cabinet-making,  agriculture,  horticulture  and  gardening;  the 
girls  being  taught  cooking,  laundrying,  plain  sewing  and  other 
things  pertaining  to  domestic  economy  so  as  to  make  them  good 
housekeepers  and  as  near  as  possible  self-supporting.  The  school 
course  includes  work  from  the  kindergarten  up  to  the  seventh  grade, 
some  advancing  as  far  as  the  eighth  grade  and  the  first  year  in  the 
high  school,  but  the  majority  seem  incapable  of  making  much 
progress  beyond  the  mere  rudimentary  branches.  In  the  matter  of 
manual  training,  which  is  made  a  specialty  in  all  grades  and  depart- 
ments, the  inmates  of  the  institution  keep  pace  with  the  students  of 
the  best  schools  in  the  country,  and  excel  the  majority,  the  skill  ac- 
quired by  many  of  the  children  being  truly  remarkable.  Music, 
drawing,  clay  modeling,  all  kinds  of  fancy  needle  work,  lace-mak- 
ing and  many  other  kinds  of  skilled  handiwork  receive  particular 
attention,  the  instructors  in  these  and  other  lines  of  study  and  work 
being  selected  with  reference  to  efficiency  alone,  neither  favoritism 
nor  political  prestige  having  any  influence  whatever  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  school  or  the  selection  of  its  teachers  and  subordinate 
officials. 

The  number  of  inmates  at  this  time  is  one  thousand  and  thirty- 
five,  of  whom  four  hundred  and  fifty  are  students,  the  remainder 
being  engaged  in  different  capacities  in  the  various  shops  and  brick 
yards  and  on  the  farms.  Strict  discipline  is  everywhere  maintained, 
though  recourse  to  harsh  or  severe  means  is  never  resorted  to  to 
enforce  it,  gentleness,  kindness  and  untiring  patience  constituting 
the  dominant  power  in  the  management  of  the  large  and  peculiar 
class  of  unfortunates  to  whom  the  great  state  of  Indiana  sustains 
the  relations  of  a  kind  and  indulgent  parent. 


326  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

The  schools  are  under  the  efficient  superintendency  of  Prof. 
Cyrus  D.  Mead,  who  is  assisted  by  the  following  corps  of  teachers, 
namely:  Mesdames  Alice  Summerbell,  Fannie  Pace,  Blanche  Mc- 
Kelvey,  Martha  Kimball,  Maria  Louise  Slack,  and  Misses  Grace 
Thompson,  Rosetta  Scheble,  Mary  Wintermote,  Charlotte  Voris, 
Emma  Jackley,  Ethel  Vernon  and  Nan  J.  Patterson. 

A  fine  band  of  sixteen  instruments  is  maintained,  all  the  mem- 
bers of  which  are  inmates  of  the  institution  except  Prof.  Henry 
Grodzik,  who  for  twelve  consecutive  years  has  been  leader  and  in- 
structor. This  band  has  been  thoroughly  drilled  and  plays  with  ease 
the  most  difficult  music,  one  of  the  most  pleasing  features  of  the 
institution  being  the  rendition  of  popular  patriotic  airs  each  evening 
as  the  large  flag  is  lowered  from  the  lofty  staff  in  front  of  the  main 
building.  The  inmates  also  have  a  well  organized  orchestra  which 
furnishes  music  for  the  entertainments  and  theatricals  that  are  given 
by  the  students  from  time  'to  time  in  the  large  public  hall,  besides 
playing  for  the  religious  services  held  in  the  institution.  It  con- 
sists of  ten  pieces  and  is  composed  entirely  of  females  who  receive 
instruction  from  Prof.  Frederick  Reineke,  one  of  the  most  accom- 
plished and  experienced  musicians  of  Fort  Wayne. 

Not  the  least  among  the  influential  agencies  for  the  moral  and 
religious  training  of  the  inmates  is  the  Sunday  school,  which  is  held 
every  Sunday  afternoon  and  is  largely  attended,  one  of  the  special 
features  being  the  singing,  in  which  all  the  children  unite,  making 
the  walls  of  the  hall  fairly  vibrate  with  melody.  Other  religious 
services  are  also  held  from  time  to  time,  to  all  of  which  careful  at- 
tention is  given,  and  it  is  needless  to  state  that  from  such  exercises 
great  and  permanent  good  is  derived. 

The  health  of  the  inmates  is  carefully  looked  after  by  a  physi- 
cian appointed  for  the  purpose  and  who  resides  at  the  institution, 
the  present  incumbent  being  Dr.  Charles  R.  Dancer,  whose  services 
have  proven  very  satisfactory. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  327 


CHAPTER  XVII 


LIBRARIES  OF  ALLEN  COUNTY. 


BY    JOHN    H.    JACOBS. 


The  founders  of  the  commonwealth  of  Indiana  fully  appreciated 
the  usefulness  of  public  libraries.  So  early  as  1806-7  the  territorial 
legislature  had  incorporated  a  public  library  in  Parke  county  and 
one  in  Vincennes;  the  last  named  is  still,  in  its  hundredth  year,  do- 
ing good  work.  The  constitution  of  18 16  provided  that  "The  gen- 
eral assembly,  at  the  time  they  lay  off  a  new  county,  shall  cause  at 
least  ten  per  cent,  to  be  reserved  out  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of 
town  lots  in  the  seat  of  justice  of  such  county  for  the  use  of  a  pub- 
lic library  for  such  county,  and  at  the  same  session  they  shall  incor- 
porate a  library  company  under  such  rules  and  regulations  as  will 
best  secure  its  permanence  and  extend  its  benefits." 

When  Allen  county  was  "laid  off"  in  1824,  the  owners  of  the 
site  of  Fort  Wayne,  Messrs,  Barr  and  McCorkle,  as  a  consideration 
for  the  location  of  the  seat  of  justice  at  that  place,  gave  to  the 
county  five  hundred  dollars  in  money,  the  land  now  occupied  by  the 
court  house  and  fifteen  lots — Nos.  104  to  118,  inclusive,  old  plat. 
As  the  money  was  collected  from  Barr  and  McCorkle  and  from  the 
purchasers  of  the  lots,  the  successive  county  agents,  John  Tipton, 
Charles  Ewing,  Francis  Comparet  and  Louis  Armstrong,  set  aside 
ten  per  cent,  of  it  for  the  Allen  County  Public  Library.  Approxi- 
mated there  were  received  from  this  source  about  seventeen  hun- 


328  THE   MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

dred  dollars.  This  sum,  however,  was  not  reached  until  March, 
1842,  at  which  time  the  commissioners  "paid  over  to  the  library 
trustees  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars,  being  the  balance  due 
on  the  ten  per  cent,  fund  of  all  lots  sold."  It  does  not  appear 
from  the  commissioners'  records,  which  are  incomplete  and  frag- 
mentary, just  when  the  library  was  established;  but  in  1835  R.  J. 
Dawson  and  William  Means  were  appointed  trustees  to  succeed 
J.  H.  Kincade  and  S.  V.  B.  Noel,  who  had  removed  from  the 
county,  and  in  1834,  at  the  request  of  Henry  Rudisill,  the  com- 
missioners appointed  John  Spencer,  Robert  Brackenridge  and 
Thomas  J.  Smith  trustees  to  fill  vacancies  caused  by  the  resigna- 
tion of  Allen  Hamilton,  the  death  of  Benjamin  Archer  and  the  re- 
moval from  the  county  of  Joseph  Holman.  Under  the  act  of  1824 
the  trustees  were  elected  by  popular  vote,  but  subsequently  were 
appointed  by  the  county  commissioners  to  serve  one  year  and  with- 
out pay.  An  amendment  to  this  act  in  1831  provides  that  not  more 
than  five  hundred  dollars  shall  be  invested  in  land  or  other  prop- 
erty excepting  books.  Among  those  who  served  as  trustees,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  above  named,  were  Osborn  Thomas,  Madison  Sweet- 
ser,  William  G.  Ewing,  Philip  G.  Jones,  M.  D.,  F.  P.  Randall,  G. 
W.  Wood,  I.  D.  G.  Nelson  and  Robert  Fleming.  In  1844  the  office 
of  library  trustee  was  abolished  and  the  duties  thereof  transferred 
to  the  county  commissioners.  The  inventory  of  the  library's  books 
and  other  assets  ordered  to  be  taken  at  this  time  does  not  ap- 
pear on  the  record,  but  the  librarian's  report  shows  on  hand  in  notes 
and  county  orders  three  hundred  and  eighty-three  dollars.  F.  P. 
Randall  was  appointed  treasurer  of  the  library  and  Henry  R.  Cole- 
rick  librarian. 

In  1850  Messrs.  Hugh  McCulloch,  Joseph  K.  Edgerton  and 
Henry  R.  Colerick  were  appointed  to  select  books  for  the  library. 
Their  selection  was  approved  by  the  commissioners,  who  ordered 
the  books  to  be  purchased.  In  December,  185 1,  the  treasurer  re- 
ported that  the  books,  costing  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  and 
ninety-eight  cents,  had  been  bought  and  turned  over  to  the  libra- 
rian, Mr.  Colerick.  As  compensation  for  his  services  Mr.  Randall 
was  granted  the  free  use  of  any  books  which  he  might  wish  to  read, 
subject  to  the  ordinary  rules  and  regulations  of  the  library.     Evi- 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  329 

dently  the  library  was  not  free  to  all.  While  the  number  of  books 
which  the  library  contained  is  not  recorded,  it  must  have  been  con- 
siderable; the  late  E.  F.  Colerick,  Esq.,  wrote  that  within  his  recol- 
lection it  was  five  hundred. 

At  the  December  term,  1855,  the  county  commissioners  divided 
the  county  into  library  districts,  Wayne  township,  including  Fort 
Wayne,  being  one  district.  The  others  were  composed  of  two  or 
more  townships.  The  record  ends  here  abruptly.  A  gentleman 
writes  from  recollection,  "In  each  library  district,  however,  the 
books  were  distributed  among  several  librarians,  who  were  in- 
structed to  exchange  one  with  another  after  each  district  had  had 
the  use  of  the  books  a  sufficient  time."  "It  was  the  careless  gather- 
ing of  a  -sack  full,  carrying  to  the  center  to  exchange,  that  sepa- 
rated the  volumes,  and  the  confusion  was  never  fully  restored  to 
order."  One  of  these  sub-librarians  was  asked  if  the  people  read 
the  books.  He  replied,  "They  don't  take  them  out.  They  ain't  much 
account.  Plutarch's  'Lives'  and  a  lot  more  old  novels.  They  were 
getting  yellow  and  I  boxed  them  up."  Of  course,  this  arrangement 
resulted  in  the  loss  of  a  very  large  part  of  the  books ;  the  rest  passed 
into  the  hands  of  the  township  trustees  and  were  practically  dealt 
with  as  part  of  the  township  libraries, 

THE  WORKING  MEN'S  INSTITUTE  AND  LIBRARY 

sprang  from  the  benevolence  and  enthusiasm  of  William  Maclure, 
a  native  of  Ayr,  Scotland.  Mr.  Maclure  was  a  gentleman  of  great 
wealth,  of  varied  scientific  attainments,  profoundly  interested  in 
popular  education,  of  wide  sympathies  and  genuine  public  spirit. 
He  came  to  the  United  States  in  1793  for  the  purpose  of  making  a 
geological  survey  of  the  country,  a  purpose  which  he  prosecuted 
with  indefatigable  energy  for  sixteen  years,  publishing  the  results 
of  his  labors  in  1809.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  and  chief  bene- 
factors of  the  Philadelphia  Academy  of  Science  and  president  there- 
of from  its  organization  until  his  death. 

Although  not  in  harmony  with  the  communistic  schemes  of 
Robert  Owen,  his  opinions  concerning  popular  education  were  so 
accordant  with  those  held  by  Mr.  Owen  that  he  joined  in  the  New 


330  THE    MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

Harmony  enterprise  as  the  most  practicable  means  of  furthering 
his  own  philanthropic  plans.  He  was  an  enthusiastic  advocate  of 
education  for  the  whole  people  and  especially  for  those  "who 
earned  their  living  by  the  labor  of  their  hands."  He  was  largely 
instrumental  in  introducing  the  Pestalozzian  system  of  education 
into  the  United  States  and  had  great  faith  in  the  elevating  power 
of  "institutes." 

Impaired  health  constrained  him  to  leave  his  work  unfinished 
and  seek  a  home  in  Mexico,  where  he  died  in  1840,  in  his  seventy- 
seventh  year.  The  executors  of  his  will,  who  were  his  brother  and 
sister,  were  instructed  to  give  books  to  the  value  of  five  hundred 
dollars  to  any  society  of  working  men  having  a  corporate  organi- 
zation and  a  collection  of  not  less  than  one  hundred  volumes.  The 
executors,  however,  entertained  opinions  different  from  the  testa- 
tor's, and,  pleading  that  the  trust  was  void  as  being  for  bodies  not 
in  existence,  took  possession  of  the  estate  of  which  they  were  the 
natural  heirs.  The  late  Governor  Hovey,  then  a  young  lawyer  of 
Posey  county,  instituted  proceedings  to  dispossess  them;  he  was 
ultimately  successful,  was  himself  appointed  administrator  of  the 
estate,  and,  with  as  little  delay  as  practicable,  proceeded  to  carry  out 
Mr.  Maclure's  wishes.  August  30,  1855,  at  the  request  of  D.  B. 
Canfield,  agent  of  the  Maclure  fund,  a  meeting  of  working  men 
was  held  in  the  court  house  in  Fort  Wayne  to  consider  the  practi- 
cability of  forming  a  library  association.  W.  S.  Smith  was  chosen 
chairman  and  Thomas  Tigar  secretary.  After  addresses  by  Mr. 
Canfield,  agent  of  the  Maclure  fund,  a  meeting  of  working  men 
tion  under  the  name  of  The  Allen  County  Working  Men's  Insti- 
tute at  Fort  Wayne.  A  constitution  and  by-laws  were  adopted. 
The  library  was  not  free.  An  entrance  fee  of  fifty  cents  and  one 
dollar  a  year  dues,  payable  quarterly,  were  required.  Officers  were 
chosen  as  follows :  President,  Thomas  Tigar,  an  Englishman  by 
birth  and  training,  editor  and  proprietor  of  the  Fort  Wayne  Senti- 
nel, a  paper  characterized  not  more  by  its  enthusiastic  advocacy  of 
Democratic  principles  than  by  its  freedom  from  all  contaminating 
influences;  vice-president,  John  Cochrane,  a  Scotchman,  builder  of 
many  a  comely  and  durable  edifice,  but  none  so  attractive  and  last- 
ing as  his  own  manly,  uncompromising  Christian  character;  librar- 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  331 

ian,  William  Fleming,  of  Irish  birth,  with  meager  educational  op- 
portunities, but  great  capacity  of  growth,  he  soon  developed  real 
intellectual  force  and  became  an  influential  factor  in  politics  and 
business;  secretary,  John  M.  Miller,  of  American  birth,  cabinet- 
maker, whose  name  was  synonymous  with  honest  workmanship  and 
fair  dealing,  and  whose  life  was  permeated  by  the  warmth  of  old- 
time  Methodism;  treasurer,  George  Humphrey,  of  Scotch  birth 
and  Fort  Wayne  training,  a  carpenter  and  builder  long  associated 
with  John  Cochrane  in  business,  with  hosts  of  friends,  in  whose 
memory  he  still  lives.  All  were  representative  men,  whose  birth- 
places indicate  the  cosmopolitan  character  of  the  population  of  Fort 
Wayne  fifty  years  ago,  a  characteristic  which  is  yet  strongly 
marked.  John  Drake,  W.  H.  Bryant,  W.  S.  Smith,  D.  W.  Maples 
and  John  Arnold  were  appointed  a  committee  to  solicit  contribu- 
tions of  books  for  the  library.  These  gentlemen  were  so  diligent  in 
their  work  that  in  a  few  months  all  the  books  immediately  needed  and 
fifty  dollars  in  money  were  obtained.  Henry  Chamberlain,  Volney 
Parks  and  A.  Gamble  secured  for  the  use  of"  the  association  a  room 
over  the  dry  goods  store  of  Evans  &  Company  on  West  Columbia 
street,  which  continued  to  be  its  home  for  the  next  twelve  years. 
The  books  from  the  Maclure  estate,  about  five  hundred  volumes, 
were  promptly  received  and  were  on  the  whole  well  adapted  to  the 
end  in  view.  There  were  some  books  of  fiction  of  the  best  class, — 
all  the  Waverly  novels, — but  they  formed  a  very  small  portion  of 
the  whole  number,  perhaps  too  small.  Works  of  history,  biog- 
raphy, travels  and  agricultural  and  mechanical  arts  predominated, 
and  they  were  largely  read.  The  constitutional  restrictions  of  mem- 
bership to  those  "who  earn  their  living  by  the  labor  of  their  hands" 
was  a  hindrance  and,  after  a  time,  was  practically  ignored. 

In  September  or  October,  1855,  the  Young  Men's  Literary  So- 
ciety was,  at  its  own  request,  merged  into  the  Institute,  its  library 
was  added  to  the  Institute's  and  the  members  received  without  pay- 
ment of  the  usual  entrance  fee.  They  were  Henry  J.  Rudisill,  H. 
C.  Gray,  S.  A.  Freeman,  M.  D.,  M.  H.  Taylor,  Henry  W.  Bond, 
A.  G.  Meyer  and  D.  N.  Bash.  This  literary  society  had,  by  means 
of  lectures,  offered  to  the  citizens  of  Fort  Wayne  opportunities  for 
instruction  and  enjoyment  of  a  very  high  order.     And  the  oppor- 


332  THE    MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

tunities  were  not  neglected.  Hon.  Hugh  McCulloch's  subject  was 
"The  Crusades,"  which  he  dealt  with  very  instructively,  showing 
their  broad  and  far-reaching  social  and  economical  effects.  Rev. 
Dr.  Jonathan  Edwards'  address  on  "The  Aspects  of  Society"  was  a 
profoundly  thoughtful  and  comprehensive  presentation  of  the  social 
and,  incidentally,  political  condition  of  the  nation.  Notwithstand- 
ing the  existence  of  many  dangerous  elements,  the  lecture  was  full 
of  hope  and  encouragement.  It  touched  lightly  on  the  ameliorating 
influence  of  slavery,  which,  however,  brought  out  a  very  caustic 
criticism  on  this  part  of  the  address  from  Dr.  B.  S.  Woodworth, 
published  in  the  succeeding  number  of  D.  W.  Bur  rough's  Anti- 
Slavery  Standard,  a  paper  whose  opinions  on  the  slavery  question 
could  not  possibly  be  misunderstood.  Hon.  Joseph  K.  Edgerton's 
address  on  "Socrates"  was  a  scholarly  and  appreciative  study  of 
the  greatest  man  of  non-Christian  antiquity,  delivered  in  a  style  of 
great  clearness  and  power.  Of  the  lecturers  from  abroad,  the  most 
distinguished  were  B.  F.  Taylor,  of  Chicago,  poet  and  editor; 
George  D.  Prentice,  the  witty  editor  of  the  Louisville  Journal, 
whose  uncompromising  devotion  to  the  Union  was  a  powerful  in- 
fluence in  keeping  Kentucky  up  to  her  duty  in  the  gloomy  days  of 
1 86 1.  It  is  no  disparagement  to  the  other  lecturers  to1  say  that  Hor- 
ace Mann's  "Thoughts  for  Young  Men"  surpassed  them  all.  It 
abounded  in  lofty  thoughts,  stimulating  to  noble  effort,  clothed  in 
beautiful  words,  and  was  delivered  with  much  feeling,  none  the 
less  apt  and  eloquent  now  than  over  fifty  years  ago.  By  request  of 
many  citizens,  the  lecturer  was  invited  to  deliver  an  address, 
"Thoughts  for  Young  Women."  He  subsequently  did  so.  Com- 
ing from  Horace  Mann,  the  "Thoughts"  could  not  be  other  than 
beautiful  and  good  and  eloquently  expressed,  but  they  failed  to  come 
home  to  the  hearts  and  lives  of  his  hearers  as  the  former  had  done. 
Colerick's  Hall,  then  the  largest  in  the  city,  was  always  crowded  to 
hear  these  lectures  and  surely  from  them  no  one  went  away  empty. 
The  library  was  well  supplied  with  magazines.  Harper's 
Monthly,  The  Atlantic,  The  Eclectic,  North  American  Review, 
Blackwood's  Edinburgh  Magazine,  Edinburgh,  Westminster  and 
London  Quarterly  Reviews  offered  the  members  an  opportunity  to 
keep  themselves  informed  on  all  the  important  subjects-  of  the  day 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  333 

at  home  and  abroad.  The  interest  of  the  weekly  meetings  was  in- 
creased by  debates,  in  which  a  considerable  number  of  the  members 
took  part.  It  may  be  useful  to  mention  some  of  the  topics  discussed 
as  showing  what  in  part  occupied  men's  thoughts  at  that  time. 
"Should  the  building  of  the  Pacific  railroad  be  undertaken  by  the 
national  government?"  To  this  four  sessions  were  devoted.  "Has 
the  use  of  paper  money  been  beneficial  to  the  world?"  Mr.  Sully 
contended  very  earnestly  for  a  purely  metallic  currency;  the 
coins  should  not,  however,  have  a  fixed  price,  but  the  government 
stamp  should  indicate  the  quantity  and  fineness  of  the  metal  in 
each,  which  should  then  circulate  like  any  other  commodity — wheat 
or  iron — for  whatever  it  was  worth.  "The  annexation  of  Cuba  to 
the  United  States;"  "the  constitutionality  of  the  fugitive  slave 
law;"  "ought  the  rate  of  interest  to  be  regulated  by  law?;"  "would 
the  shortening  of  hours  of  labor  and  business  tend  to  the  improve- 
ment of  society?";  "suffrage  for  women;"  "the  annexation  of  Mex- 
ico and  the  independence  of  Canada."  As  the  shadows  of  the  com- 
ing war  grew  darker,  "Would  it  be  politic  for  the  national  govern- 
ment to  maintain  the  union  of  the  states  by  force?"  DecemDer, 
1 86 1,  "Should  the  negroes  be  armed  to  aid  in  putting  down  the  re- 
bellion?" These  discussions  were  kept  up  as  long  as  the  society 
existed.  At  a  later  date  the  junior  members  of  the  association 
formed  a  debating  society  for  themselves.  The  principal  members 
were  Henry  Colerick,  John  Mohr,  Jr.,  E.  L.  Craw  and  Charles 
Brenton,  which  continued  until  the  Institute  ceased  to  exist. 

Under  the  auspices  of  the  Institute,  lectures  were  delivered  from 
time  to  time  by  Hon.  Andrew  H.  Hamilton,  Rev.  John  M.  Lowry, 
Drs.  B.  S.  Woodsworth  and  H.  P.  Ayres  and  Hon.  Isaac  Jenkin- 
son,  which  were  open  to  the  public.  In  the  winter  of  1859-60  lec- 
tures were  delivered  by  Professor  Youmans,  Mrs.  L.  K.  Lippincott 
(Grace  Greenwood),  Horace  Greeley  and  Bayard  Taylor.  Although 
some  of  these  were  losing  ventures,  they  were  on  the  whole  profit- 
able. The  price  paid  the  lecturers  was  fifty  dollars  and  in  several 
instances  a  small  sum  in  addition  for  expenses.  This  price  seems, 
when  compared  with  the  sums  paid  a  few  years  later,  small  indeed, 
but  it  was  deemed  a  satisfactory  compensation.  For  Mr.  Greeley's 
lecture  about  seven  hundred  tickets  were  sold  and  for  Mrs.  Lippin- 


334  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

cott's  about  five  hundred  at  twenty-five  cents  each.  The  lectures 
were  delivered  in  Colerick's  Hall  and  the  expenses,  including  rent, 
advertising,  etc.,  were  about  fifteen  dollars  for  each. 

Of  the  two  hundred  and  more  who*  at  some  time  were  enrolled 
as  members,  above  eighty  per  cent,  have  died.  Of  these  some  lived 
notable  lives.  It  may  be  permissible  to  name  Lindley  M.  Ninde, 
John  Morris,  Rev.  John  M.  Lowry,  Dr.  B.  S.  Woodworth,  Dr.  H. 
P.  Ayres,  Isaac  Knapp,  Kerr  Murray,  Neil  McLachlan,  James  B. 
White,  Richard  Sully,  Rev.  George  A.  Irvin,  the  first  superintend- 
ent of  Fort  Wayne  public  schools;  Sion  S.  Bass,  colonel  of  the 
Thirtieth  Indiana  Volunteers,  mortally  wounded  in  the  battle  of 
Shiloh;  W.  H.  Link,  colonel  of  the  Twelfth  Indiana  Volunteers, 
died  of  wounds  received  in  the  battle  of  Richmond,  Kentucky.  Of 
those  still  living  several  have  attained  distinction  in  professional  or 
business  pursuits.  The  membership,  all  in  all,  averaged  high  intel- 
lectually and  morally. 

The  society  had,  however,  begun  to  decay.  There  were  no 
means  by  which  worn-out  or  lost  books  could  be  replaced  or  new 
books  purchased;  the  number  of  members  decreased,  and  the  excit- 
ing events  of  the  Civil  war  so  monopolized  the  thoughts  of  the 
community  that  interest  in  the  society  gradually  died  out.  A  few 
members  continued  to  meet,  but  the  number  became  so  small  that 
it  was  no  longer  practicable  to  pay  the  necessary  expenses  and  in 
1867  the  library  was  transferred  to  an  upper  room  in  the  then  new 
court  house.  Meetings  were  held  here  and  books  issued  as  for- 
merly, but  it  seemed  impossible  to  revive  interest  in  the  institution 
and  in  the  fall  of  1869  the  library  was  placed  in  the  high  school 
building  for  the  use  jointly  of  the  pupils  and  members  of  the  Insti- 
tute. Practically,  however,  the  Working  Men's  Institute  ceased  to 
exist  from  that  date.  When  the  Fort  Wayne  Public  Library  was 
established  the  school  trustees  transferred  to  it  a  part  of  the  books ; 
the  remainder  still  form  part  of  the  High  School  Library. 

PUBLIC   LIBRARIES. 

In  1852  the  legislature  of  Indiana  enacted  a  law  imposing  a 
tax  of  one-fourth  of  a  mill  on  all  the  taxable  property  in  the  state 
and  also  twenty-five  cents  on  each  poll  for  the  purpose  of  establish- 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  335 

ing  a  free  library  in  each  township.    This  law  expired  in  two  years 
by  limitation.     It  was  re-enacted  in  1854  and  again  in  1855.     The 
books  were  to  be  selected  and  purchased  by  the  superintendent    of 
public  instruction,  under  the  direction  of  the  state  board  of  educa- 
tion, and  to  be  distributed  among  the  townships  in  proportion  to 
population.     The  township  trustees  were  to  be  the  custodians    of 
the  books.    The  purpose  of  the  law  was  unquestionably  a  wise  one — 
to  furnish  a  means  of  self-education  to  all  the  people  of  the  state. 
The  books  selected  were  well  adapted  to  that  purpose.    Among  them 
were  some  of  the  best  works  of  fiction,  but  that  class  of  books  was 
not  present  in  such  prodigious  numbers  as  it  is  in  the  popular  libra- 
ries of  today.    Books  of  history,  biography,,  the  useful  and  mechan- 
ical arts  and  travel  predominated,  biographies  being  in  the  ascend- 
ant.    Nearly  all  of  that  excellent  collection  known  as   "Harper's 
Family  Library"  were  in  each  of  these  libraries.     The  history  of 
one  of  these  is  substantially  the  history  of  all.     The  Wayne  town- 
ship library  was  open  for  the  delivery  and  return  of  books  Wednes- 
day evening  and  Saturday  afternoon;  the  first  issue  was  April  7, 
1854;  the  borrowers  were  John  Cochrane,  W.  W.  Dodge,  Dr.  B. 
S.  Woodworm,  Dr.  Isaac  Knapp,  James  Humphrey,  W.  G.  Sheaf- 
er,  O.  D.  Hurd  and  George  Humphrey.     The  number  of  readers 
grew  apace  and  so  did  the  number  of  books.     In  1861,  when  Mr. 
Bernard  Beckers  was  librarian,  there  were  over  one  thousand  vol- 
umes in  the  catalogue.     During  the  trusteeship    of    Mr.    John  G. 
Maier  there  were  twelve  hundred,  and  the  numbers  on  the  books 
indicate  that  from  first  to  last  two  thousand  volumes  were  put  into 
the  library.     The  books  were  much  used.     Many  days  a  hundred 
volumes  were  taken    out,    sometimes  more,  and  by  readers  of  all 
ages  and  both  sexes.     The  system  of  administration,  however,  was 
defective.     Many  books  were  lost  and  when  the  supply  from  the 
state  ceased   the  number  dwindled  away   very   rapidly.     The  last 
issue  of  books  was  recorded  in  December,  1893.     The  experience, 
of  other  townships  was  substantially  the  same  with  that  of  Wayne 
township.     A  shifting  and  sometimes  an  unsuitable  home  for   the 
books,  trustees  sometimes  uninterested  in  library  work  and  careless 
about  having  the  borrowed  books  returned,  inconvenience  of  access 
for  a  large  part  of  the  people,  because  of  distance  and  poor  roads, 


336  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

and  the  loss  of  interest  by  the  state,  sufficiently  account  for  the  de- 
cay of  the  township  libraries.  But  the  work  was  not  in  vain;  the 
money  was  not  wasted.  "Only  those  who  know  very  little  of  the 
busy  world  of  men  or  of  the  silent  world  of  books,  in  which  lie  at 
once  the  records  of  past  human  activities  and  the  seed  plots  of  hu- 
man activities  to  come"  can  doubt  that  out  of  the  means  of  self- 
education  furnished  by  the  township  libraries,  and  their  predeces- 
sors, many  men  and  women  derived  thoughts  and  impressions 
which  made  their  lives  better  and  so  promoted  the  general  good. 
The  fragments  of  these  libraries  were  in  most,  perhaps  all,  cases 
distributed  among  the  schools  of  the  respective  townships  and  be- 
came the  nucleus  of  new  district  school  libraries  or  an  addition  to 
such  libraries  as  had  been  previously  formed.  For  in  many  dis- 
tricts the  teachers  and  pupils,  feeling  the  need  of  books  when  the 
township  libraries  failed,  had  by  their  own  personal  efforts  estab- 
lished little  ■  libraries  for  themselves,  using  for  this  purpose  the 
money  raised  by  entertainments  of  various  kinds.  Their  efforts  in 
this  direction  usually  have  been  supplemented  by  the  township  trus- 
tee. These  local  libraries  contain  the  seed  of  a  beneficent  growth. 
The  teachers  and  pupils  should  not  be  called  on  to  do  this  work 
alone  nor  for  themselves  only.  If  the  people  of  each  district  would 
act  together  with  earnestness  and  intelligence  these  district  libraries 
would  furnish  to  all  an  opportunity  of  self-education  all  the  more 
valuable  because  the  result  of  their  own  efforts.  The  eight  common 
schools  in  Wayne  township  have  together  about  seven  hundred  vol- 
umes, including  the  fragments  of  the  old  township  library;  the  re- 
mainder have  been  obtained  partly  by  the  teachers  and  pupils  and 
partly  have  been  purchased  by  the  late  trustee,  Louis  Schirmeyer,  at 
whose  request  the  teachers  of  the  respective  schools  prepared  lists 
of  such  books  as  they  thought  best  suited  to  their  community  and 
schools.  The  lists  so  prepared  are  very  creditable  to  the  judgment 
of  the  teachers. 

THE  MONROE  TOWNSHIP  SCHOOL  LIBRARY 

was  established  in  1895.  The  necessary  funds  were  derived  from 
entertainments  given  by  pupils  and  their  friends,  and  in  part  were 
furnished  by  the  township  trustee.    The  library  now  contains  about 


JOHN   H.   JACOBS. 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  337 

one  thousand  volumes  of  history,  biography,  fiction  and  text  books, 
which  are  distributed  equally  among  the  eight  school  districts  of  the 
township. 

THE  MONROEVILLE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  LIBRARY, 

located  in  the  Monroeville  high  school  building,  was  established  in 
1885.  It  contains  five  hundred  volumes,  principally  of  history, 
general  literature,  fiction,  political  economy,  scientific  subjects  and 
some  text  books.  The  books  have  been  donated  by  citizens  of  Mon- 
roeville and  The  Twentieth  Century  Club,  and  in  part  have  been 
purchased  by  funds  raised  by  entertainments.  In  1905  the  Monroe- 
ville school  board  turned  the  library  over  to  The  Twentieth  Century 
Club,  composed  of  prominent  ladies  of  Monroeville,  who  have  cata- 
logued the  books  and  have  appointed  as  librarians  Miss  Marguerite 
Niezer  and  Miss  Alta  Lewis.  The  library  is  open  every  day  except 
Sundays. 

THE    EMERINE    J.    HAMILTON    LIBRARY. 

There  was  no  public  library  in  Fort  Wayne  except  the  township 
library,  then  hastening  to  decay,  when,  in  1887,  the  late  Mrs.  E.  J. 
Hamilton,  together  with  her  daughters,  Mrs.  Mary  Hamilton  Wil- 
liams, Mrs.  Ellen  Hamilton  Wagenhals  and  Miss  Margaret  Hamil- 
ton, established  a  Free  Reading  Room  for  Women.  After  the  death 
of  Mrs.  Hamilton  the  title  was  changed  to  The  Emerine  J.  Hamil- 
ton Library.  The  library  was  comfortably  and  conveniently  lo- 
cated at  No.  19  WTest  Wayne  street.  Mrs.  S.  C.  Hoffman,  Mrs. 
Laura  Detzer,  Miss  Nannie  McLachlin  and  Miss  Tracv  Guild  sue- 
cessively  served  as  librarian,  with  Miss  Emma  Eckles  as  assistant. 
As  the  title  indicated,  it  was  originally  intended  to  be  only  a  read- 
ing room.  It  was  opened  to  the  public,  amply  furnished  with  the 
best  magazines  and  newspapers  and  books  of  reference,  with  about 
four  hundred  volumes  on  the  shelves  of  carefully  selected  books,  in 
which  those  relating  to  general  literature  and  art  and  the  best  fic- 
tion, both  past  and  present,  predominated.  From  the  beginning  the 
attendance  was  very  gratifying  and  the  use  made  of  the  institution 
was  proof  of  the  correctness  of  the  judgment  of  the  founders  as  to 
the  literary  tastes  and  needs  of  the  women  of  Fort  Wayne.  In  1889 
22 


338  THE    MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

the  reading  room  was,  without  losing  any  of  its  distinctive  qualities, 
enlarged  into  a  circulating  library.  Many  historical  and  biograph- 
ical works  were  added,  and  a  fine  lot  of  books  for  children.  This 
step  added  very  much  to  its  usefulness,  especially  to  the  members 
of  the  many  literary  and  art  clubs  then  rapidly  growing  in  num- 
bers and  influence,  who  for  the  most  part  had  no  other  means  by 
which  their  wants  could  be  met.  No  pains  were  spared  to  make  the 
library  adequate  to  the  growing  demands  upon  it,  and  it  continued 
to  grow  in  usefulness  as  well  as  in  size  until  the  establishment  of 
the  Fort  Wayne  Public  Library  seemed  to  make  its  continuance  no 
longer  necessary.  Then,  as  the  best  way  in  which  to  continue  so 
good  a  work,  the  library,  numbering  upwards  of  four  thousand 
volumes,  was  given  to  the  Young  Woman's  Christian  Association, 
June  24,  1896. 

To  Mrs.  Hamilton  not  only  those  who  used  the  reading  room 
but  the  whole  city  of  Fort  Wayne  owe  a  lasting  debt  of  gratitude. 
For  it  is  no  extravagance  to  say  that  its  success  stimulated  into  ef- 
fective activity  the  desire  for  a  library  that  would  be  adequate  to 
the  needs  of  the  entire  community,  and  was  a  main  factor  in  bring- 
ing about  the  establishment  of  the  Fort  Wayne  Free  Public  Li- 
brary. 

FORT   WAYNE   FREE   PUBLIC   LIBRARY. 

The  Allen  County  Public  Library  and  the  township  libraries 
had  fallen  into  decay  because  the  laws  under  which  they  were  or- 
ganized provided  no  adequate  and  permanent  means  of  support  and 
growth,  nor  any  efficient  control.  To  remedy  these  defects  a  move- 
ment, in  which  Colonel  D.  N.  Foster  and  Colonel  R.  S.  Robertson 
were  the  active  spirits,  was  begun  in  1878.  A  bill  drafted  by 
Colonel  Robertson  was  presented  by  himself  and  Colonel  Foster  to 
the  legislature  of  1879,  but  in  spite  of  all  their  efforts  it  was  not 
passed.  Undiscouraged,  however,  by  this  failure,  these  gentlemen 
presented  the  same  bill  to  the  next  legislature  and  had  the  satisfac- 
tion of  seeing  their  labors  successful.  The  bill  became  a  law  March 
7,  1881.  In  July  of  the  same  year  the  school  trustees,  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  above  named  and  other  citizens,  asked  that  a  library 
tax  be  levied.     The  city  council,  however,  refused  to  grant  the  re- 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  339 

quest,  and  was  subsequently  advised  by  the  city  attorney  that  "there 
was  already  in  existence  a  public  library,"  and  that  therefore  the 
council  had  no  authority  to  make  the  levy  asked  for.  The  library 
to  which  the  city  attorney's  opinion  alluded  must  have  been  the 
township  library,  in  which  the  state  had  ceased  to  take  any  interest 
and  for  which  it  had  made  no  appropriation  for  many  years,  and 
which  was  then  well-nigh  defunct  and  could  hardly  have  been 
deemed  such  a  library  as  was  contemplated  by  the  statute.  How- 
ever, that  opinion,  sound  or  not,  was  accepted  as  final.  This  unex- 
pected result  so  discouraged  the  friends  of  the  proposed  library  that 
the  whole  project  was  permitted  to  become  dormant  and  remained 
in  that  state  until  the  Woman's  Club  League,  contemporaneously 
with  its  organization  in  the  beginning  of  1893,  entered  upon  the 
work  of  establishing  a  library  that  would  be  adequate  to  the  wants 
of  the  rapidly  growing  city  and  free  to  all  the  people.  The  ladies 
labored  with  such  earnestness,  persistency  and  intelligence  in  the 
prosecution  of  this  work  that  it  was  practically  accomplished  in  a 
few  months.  They  decided,  under  the  advice  of  W.  H.  Shambaugh, 
Esq.,  the  city  attorney,  to  proceed  under  the  act  of  1881,  which 
would  make  the  library  a  part  of  the  public  school  system,  vesting 
the  title  to  the  property  and  the  sole  management  thereof  in  the 
board  of  school  trustees.  They  secured  the  hearty  co-operation  of 
the  trustees — Messrs.  O.  P.  Morgan,  A.  E.  Hoffman  and  John 
Moritz.  They  circulated  petitions  asking  that  a  tax  for  library  pur- 
poses be  levied,  which  petitions  were  signed  by  many  citizens,  and 
in  July  were  presented  to  the  city  council  by  a  committee  of  the 
Club  League,  with  the  recommendation  of  the  school  trustees.  The 
council  promptly  granted  the  request  and  ordered  the  tax  to  be 
levied. 

As  no  part  of  the  money  to  be  raised  by  taxation  could  be  made 
available  under  a  year,  the  Club  League  formed  a  library  for  the 
use  of  its  own  members  and  obtained  from  the  mayor  permission  to 
use  rooms  in  the  City  Hall.  As  soon  as  the  first  installment  of 
money  had  been  paid  in  the  trustees  elected  Mrs.  S.  C.  Hoffman  to 
be  librarian,  with  Miss  Jennie  Evans  assistant.  A  permanent  com- 
mittee for  the  selection  of  books  was  appointed,  composed  of  four 
ladies — Mrs.  C.  R.  Dryer,  Mrs.  A.   S.  Lauferty,  Miss  Margaret 


340  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

Hamilton  and  Miss  Merica  Hoagland — nominated  by  the  Woman's 
Club  League,  and  four  gentlemen — Rev.  W.  S.  Wagenhals,  Colo- 
nel R.  S.  Robertson,  C.  T.  Lane  and  J.  H.  Jacobs — chosen  by  the 
trustees.  Subsequently  the  librarian  was  added  to  this  committee 
as  a  member  ex  officio. 

In  cataloguing  the  books  and  otherwise  preparing  them  for  the 
shelves,  Miss  Hoagland  gave  her  services  without  compensation. 
Miss  Dye,  of  the  Indianapolis  Public  Library,  was  employed  as  an 
expert.  Her  services  were  very  helpful  and  highly  esteemed.  The 
Dewey  system  of  classification  was  adopted  and  has  been  continu- 
ously in  use.  The  card  catalogue  was  begun  at  that  time  and  is 
kept  up  to  date,  a  great  convenience  to  those  who  are  willing  to  de- 
vote the  very  little  time  needed  to  become  acquainted  with  it. 

Everything  being  in  readiness,  January  28,  1895,  a  public  meet- 
ing was  held  in  the  city  council  hall  in  honor  of  the  completion  of 
the  work.  Mayor  Oakley  presided.  Brief  addresses  were  made  by 
several  citizens  and  the  members  of  the  Club  League  received  a 
modest  portion  of  the  praise  to  which  their  very  successful  labors 
entitled  them.  The  next  morning  the  library  began  its  work  in  the 
rooms  which  had  been  granted  to  the  Woman's  Club  League,  with 
three  thousand  six  hundred  and  six  volumes  on  the  shelves ;  of  these 
one  hundred  and  seventeen  had  been  presented  by  the  league;  eight 
hundred  by  the  Allen  County  Teachers'  Association,  ten  hundred 
and  twenty-eight  by  the  school  board  from  the  library  of  the  high 
school  (in  these  were  included  a  number  of  books  which  had  formed 
part  of  the  library  of  the  Working  Men's  Institute),  two  hundred 
and  forty-seven  were  public  documents  from  private  parties,  and 
fourteen  hundred  and  fourteen  had  been  purchased.  The  demand 
for  books  was  good  from  the  beginning;  by  July  the  number  of 
card-holders  was  fourteen  hundred  and  seventy-seven,  and  forty- 
four  hundred  and  sixty-one  had  used  the  little  reading  room. 

The  necessity  for  more  room  was  so  evident  that  the  trustees 
secured  the  premises  at  the  southwest  corner  of  Clinton  and  Wayne 
streets,  to  which  the  books  were  transferred  in  September,  1895. 
The  number  of  card-holders  nearly  doubled  the  following  year  and 
the  number  using  the  reading  room  nearly  tripled. 

After  two  vears  of  faithful  and  efficient  service,  Mrs.    S.    C. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  341 

Hoffman  resigned  her  office  and  was  succeeded  by  Miss  Clara  M. 
Fowler,  a  lady  of  culture,  who  held  the  office  until  her  death  in 
July,  1898,  when  her  chief  assistant,  Miss  Margaret  M.  Colerick, 
the  present  librarian,  was  chosen  in  her  stead. 

The  growth  of  the  library  was  so  rapid,  its  success  and  useful- 
ness so  unquestionable,  that  a  permanent  home  for  it  and  one  espe- 
cially adapted  to  its  needs  became  a  subject  of  much  consideration 
by  the  trustees.  In  the  summer  of  1898  the  board,  consisting  of 
George  F.  Felts,  A.  J.  Boswell  and  W.  P.  Cooper,  purchased  for 
fourteen  thousand  dollars  the  present  site  at  the  corner  of  West 
Wayne  and  Webster  streets.  There  was  on  the  property  a  com- 
modious dwelling,  which,  with  some  alterations,  it  was  thought 
would  meet  the  needs  of  the  library  until  the  trustees  should  feel 
themselves  able  to  erect  a  more  suitable  building.  Early  in  1901, 
however,  the  Woman's  Club  League,  whose  interest  in  the  work  so 
successfully  carried  on  had  not  abated,  solicited  from  Mr.  Andrew 
Carnegie  a  grant  of  money  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  a  home  that 
would  be  an  architectural  ornament  and  adequate  to  the  wants  of 
the  city  for  many  years  to  come.  Although  this  request  was  not 
granted,  a  subsequent  one  from  the  same  source,  endorsed  by  May- 
or Berghoff  and  a  number  of  prominent  citizens,  brought  from  Mr. 
Carnegie  an  offer  of  seventy-five  thousand  dollars  for  the  purpose 
above  named,  on  condition  that  the  city  would  furnish  a  site  and 
guarantee  to  raise  annually  seven  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  library.  The  city  referred  this  offer  to  the 
school  trustees,  consisting  of  Allen  Hamilton,  W.  W.  Rockhill  and 
Eugene  B.  Smith,  in  whom  the  title  to  the  library  property  resided. 
The  board  agreed  to  furnish  the  site  and  to  provide  the  yearly  in- 
come. Mr.  Carnegie's  offer  having  thus  been  accepted,  the  school 
board,  with  as  little  delay  as  practicable,  began  preparations  to 
build  on  the  site  already  owned,  finding  a  temporary  and  very  suit- 
able home  for  the  library  in  "The  Elektron."  Alfred  Grindle  was 
selected  to  be  architect  and  the  contract  was  awarded  to  William 
Geake.  About  two  years  were  occupied  in  the  work  of  construc- 
tion. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  say  anything  about  the  building ;  it  speaks 
for  itself.     It  is  commodious,  massive  and  of  very  imposing  ap- 


342  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

pearance,  and  the  interior  is  sumptuously  decorated.     The  library 
was  formally  opened  in  its  new  and,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  permanent 
home,  January  7,  1904.     In  the  presence  of  a  large  number  of  citi- 
zens assembled  in  the  rotunda,  Mayor  Berghoff,  on  behalf  of  the 
city,  turned  the  building  over  to  the  school  board  and  Mrs.  C.  S. 
Bash,  president  of  the  board,  received  it.    Judge  Taylor  delivered 
an  address  and  Rev.  Drs.  Wagenhals  and  Moffat  offered  prayers. 
A  report  of  the  opening  exercises  was  sent  to  Mr.  Carnegie,  from 
which  he  learned  that  his  original  gift  had  been  insufficient  to  per- 
mit the  architect's  plans  to  be  fully  carried  out ;  he  at  once  sent  his 
check  for  fifteen  thousand  dollars.    With  this  sum  the  trustees  have 
been  able  to  carry  out  practically  the  original  designs  and  also  to 
add  considerably  to  the  fire-proof  qualities  of  the  building.     The 
cost  of  the  library  building,  exclusive  of  the  site,  is  approximately 
one  hundred  and  ten  thousand  dollars ;  of  the  site,  including  inter- 
est on  deferred  payments,    fourteen    thousand  seven  hundred  and 
twenty-five  dollars,  making  the  total  cost  of  the  real  estate  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-four  thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty-five  dol- 
lars.    By  taxation  has  been  realized  as  follows:     1894,  $3,261.11; 
1895,     $5,271.80;     1896,     $5,732.85;     1897,     $4,099.48;     1898, 
$6,768.59;    1899,  $7,661.89;    1900,  $7,813,84;    1901,  $7,95073; 
1902,  $8,790.59;  1903,  $11,046.91;  1904,  $12,841.06;  total,  $81,- 
238.85.     Moreover,  the  interest  received  for  the  use  of  the  school 
money  during  their  respective  terms  of  office  was  turned  over  to  the 
library  fund  by  the  treasurers  of  the  school  board  as  follows :    Sam- 
uel M.  Foster,  $4,181.60;  A.  J.  Boswell,  estimated,  $1,683.33;  W. 
W.  Rockhill,  $4,282.26;  Eugene  B.  Smith,  $1,018.71;  total,  $11,- 
165.90.    These  gentlemen  were  under  no  legal  obligation  to  pay  this 
money  into  the  library  fund;  their  act  was  liberal,  and,  in  the  best 
sense,  public  spirited  and  worthy  of  high  commendation.     If  to  the 
foregoing  sums  be  added  the  ninety  thousand  dollars  given  by  Mr. 
Carnegie,  the  total  amount  of  money  spent  for  the  library,  for  all 
purposes,  from  its  inception  to  August   1,   1904,  about  ten  years, 
appears  to  be  one  hundred  and  eighty-two  thousand  four  hundred 
and  four  dollars  and  seventy-six  cents.     The  current  expenses  of 
the  library,  exclusive  of  the  cost  of  books,  binding  and  repairs,  for 
the  year  ending  August  1,  1904,  were  about  five  thousand  dollars. 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  343 

The  amount  expended  for  books  and  magazines  up  to  July,  1904,  is 
twelve  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty-three  dollars  and  eighty- 
six  cents.  The  total  number  of  volumes  now  in  the  library  is  up- 
wards of  twenty  thousand.  Of  these  two  thousand  five  hundred  and 
thirty-nine  are  United  States  government  publications.  As  the  library 
has  been  made  a  depository  for  all  works  which  the  national  gov- 
ernment publishes  for  distribution,  this  number  will  increase  rap- 
idly. These  documents  contain  an  immense  amount  of  informa- 
tion valuable  to  students  of  the  political  and  economic  history  of 
the  country,  and  also  many  scientific  reports  and  maps  not  to  be  had 
elsewhere.  To  make  this  mass  of  knowledge  available,  minute  and 
very  accurate,  catalogues  are  indispensable,  the  making  of  which 
would  require  an  amount  of  labor  far  beyond  the  power  of  the 
present  limited  administrative  body.  However,  the  Congressional 
Library  offers  relief  speedily  and  very  cheap.  In  the  reference  room 
is  a  large  collection  of  the  best  magazine  literature  in  the  English 
language.  The  sets  of  some  are  complete  and  the  librarian,  with 
commendable  zeal,  embraces  every  opportunity  to  make  the  broken 
sets  more  complete.  Some  of  the  magazines,  as  Harper's  and  The 
Century,  besides  furnishing  excellent  contemporary  literature  and 
comment  on  current  events,  also  admirably  exhibit  the  progress  of 
the  art  of  book  illustrations  from  the  wood  cuts  of  the  earlier  days 
to  the  photographic  engravings  of  today.  Some  valuable  gifts  have 
been  received;  bound  volumes  of  Fort  Wayne  newspapers  of  an 
early  date;  of  Niles'  Register;  a  large  part  of  the  library  of  the 
late  Hon.  Joseph  K.  Edgerton  has  been  given  by  his  heirs;  the 
Hebrew  Young  Men's  Society  has  furnished  a  copy  of  the  new 
Jewish  Encyclopedia,  now  nearing  completion,  a  veritable  The- 
sauros  of  everything  relating  to  the  history  and  literature  of  that 
ancient  people.  Mr.  S.  M.  Foster  has  also  presented  to  the  library 
a  fine  portrait  of  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie,  which  besides  being  an 
excellent  likeness  of  the  library's  benefactor,  is  also  admirable  as  a 
work  of  art. 

A  beginning  has  been  made  in  the  collection  of  material  relat- 
ing to  the  history  of  Indiana  and,  in  particular,  of  Allen  county, 
which  it  is  hoped  will  be  continued  until  it  shall  be  as  complete  as 
can  be  made.     Mr.  George  Reiter  also  has  presented  his  collection 


344  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

of  curiosities,  relics  and  antiquities,  which  may  be  the  earnest  of 
great  things  to  come.  Including  the  last  purchase  of  books,  which 
will  be  placed  on  the  shelves  in  a  few  days,  the  circulatory  library 
numbers  about  sixteen  thousand  five  hundred  volumes,  embracing 
eleven  thousand  five  hundred  and  thirty-six  titles;  of  these  thirty- 
four  per  cent.,  3,876,  are  works  of  fiction;  twelve  per  cent.,  1,342, 
of  biography ;  seven  per  cent.,  781,  of  travel;  8  per  cent.,  921,  of 
history;  eight  per  cent.,  930,  of  literature;  three  per  cent.,  375,  of 
fine  arts;  four  per  cent.,  449,  of  useful  arts;  four  per  cent.;  495,  of 
natural  science;  five  per  cent.,  560,  of  sociology;  three  per  cent, 
301,  of  religion;  one  per  cent.,  152,  of  philosophy;  47  of  philology. 
The  classes  of  books  and  the  number  of  each  class,  which  have 
been  issued  are  shown  by  the  following  figures,  which  are  also  in- 
dicative of  the  progress  that  has  been  rnade  from  the  first  to  the  last 
full  year  of  the  library : 

1895.  1903. 

39,251 .  .  . . Total    Circulation    54,062 

34,553 Fiction .45,167 

599 Biography .    1,096 

1,951 History   and   Travel    3,881 

968 Literature     x,759 

154 Fine   Arts    650 

130 Useful  Arts     567 

249 Natural  Science   732 

310 Sociology 470 

231 Religion    370 

99 Philosophy    . 339 

9 Philology     31 

The  number  of  works  other  than  fiction  circulated  in  1895  was 
eleven  and  four-tenths  per  cent,  of  the  whole  number;  the  number 
of  such  works  circulated  in  1903  was  sixteen  and  four-tenths  per 
cent,  of  the  whole,  showing  a  real,  if  not  large,  progress  in  the  pub- 
lic taste.  There  was  at  the  same  time  a  relative  diminution  of  five 
per  cent,  in  the  number  of  works  of  fiction  sent  out.  The  increase 
in  the  number  of  card-holders  and  of  frequenters  of  the  reading 


I 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  345 

room  is  gratifying.  At  the  end  of  the  first  full  year,  July  31,  1896, 
there  were  two  thousand  six  hundred  forty-nine  card-holders;  the 
increase  was  considerable  each  year,  but  the  greatest  in  1904;  that 
year  one  thousand  one  hundred  fourteen  new  cards  were  taken  out. 
January  1,  1905,  the  card-holders  were  nine  thousand  and  fifty-five, 
considerably  more  than  one-sixth  of  the  total  population  of  the  city. 
During  the  year  ending  July  31,  1896,  twelve  thousand  one  hundred 
and  thirty-one  persons  used  the  reading  room;  in  the  year  1903 
twenty-four  thousand  and  fifteen.  The  various  literary  and  art 
clubs  in  the  city  make  free  use  of  the  library.  The 
hunting  up  of  authorities  and  verifying  of  references, 
while  it  adds  considerably  to  the  labor  of  administration, 
adds  still  more  to  the  interest  and  usefulness  of  club  work.  A  most 
interesting  part  of  the  work  and  one  that  promises  great  results  is 
that  in  connection  with  the  public  schools.  Often  on  Saturdays 
every  seat  in  the  children's  room  is  occupied  and  not  a  few  read 
their  books  while  standing.  In  order  to  make  the  relation  of  the 
library  to  the  schools  more  effective,  Mrs.  Detzer  and  Mrs.  Porter, 
of  the  library  committee,  were  appointed  to  confer  weekly  with  such 
teachers  as  might  desire  it  on  this  subject.  This  very  interesting 
work,  if  wisely  managed,  must  raise  up  a  great  many  children  ac- 
customed to  the  intelligent  use  of  good  books  and  to  the  investiga- 
tion of  subjects  which  will  go  far  toward  enabling  them  to  carry  on 
self-education  when  their  school  days  shall  have  passed  away.  From 
time  to  time  it  has  been  necessary  to  increase  the  number  of  assist- 
ants to  the  librarian.  The  present  staff  consists  of  Miss  Margaret 
M.  Colerick,  librarian;  Miss  Jane  L.  Evans,  who  has  been  a  member 
ever  since  the  first  opening  of  the  library;  Miss  Sarah  L.  Sturgis, 
in  1900,  Miss  Lillian  M.  Briggs,  in  1905,  Mrs.  Ella  Wilding.  The 
library  committee  is  at  present  as  follows :  Miss  Katharine  Hamil- 
ton, secretary;  Miss  Margaret  M.  Colerick,  Mrs.  A.  J.  Detzer,  Mrs. 
M.  F.  Porter,  Mrs.  A.  Griffiths,  Colonel  R.  S.  Robertson,  W.  P. 
Breen,  Esq.,  J.  H.  Jacobs,  Prof.  August  Crull  and  J.  B.  Harper. 
Mrs.  D.  N.  Foster,  Mrs.  C.  B.  Woodworm  and  Mrs.  S.  C.  Hoffman 
have  also  been  members  of  this  committee.  The  present  useful  find- 
ing list  was  prepared  in  1897  by  Miss  Tracy  M.  Guild;  the  additions 
to  it  by  Miss  Evans,  first  assistant  librarian. 


346  THE    MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

The  Fort  Wayne  Free  Public  Library  has  now  fully  entered 
on  a  career  of  usefulness  whose  results  cannot  be  limited  by  county 
or  state  lines.  It  is  a  lasting  monument  to  the  intelligence,  fore- 
sight and  earnestness  of  the  members  of  The  Woman's  Club  League 
and  of  the  gentlemen  who  drafted  and  procured  the  enactment  of 
the  library  law  of  1881. 

CONCORDIA  COLLEGE  LIBRARIES. 

Concordia  College,  one  of  the  most  influential  and  healthful  of 
Fort  Wayne's  institutions,  possesses  two  libraries.  They  contain 
little,  perhaps  no>,  useless  matter  and  are  well  adapted  to  the  needs 
of  the  college.  The  Students'  Library  contains  one  thousand  six 
hundred  and  twenty-eight  volumes,  classified  as  follows :  Works 
of  fiction,  in  English,  368,  in  German,  300;  works  of  history,  in 
English,  102,  in  German,  112;  works  of  literature,  in  English,  168, 
in  German,  181;  works  of  biography,  in  English,  120;  works  of 
travels,  in  English,  50;  works  of  mythology,  in  English,  41 ;  works 
of  art  and  culture,  in  English,  84;  works  of  philology,  in  English, 
35 ;  miscellaneous,  in  English,  84. 

The  Teachers'  Library  contains  approximately  six  thousand  vol- 
umes, of  which  1,000  are  devoted  to  theology,  700  to  German  lan- 
guage and  literature,  500  to  English  language  and  literature,  500 
to  Latin  language  and  literature,  500  to  Greek  language  and  litera- 
ture, 750  to  history  and  geography,  350  to  education,  500  to  math- 
ematics and  natural  science,  and  1,200  to  miscellaneous  subjects. 

The  Missouri  synod  appropriates  yearly  one  hundred  dollars  to 
the  Teachers'  Library  and  a  like  sum  from  the  general  funds  of  the 
college  is  appropriated  to  the  students'  collection.  The  small  num- 
ber of  volumes  is  not  an  indication  of  the  A^alue  of  the  libraries.  The 
books  have  been  selected  by  gentlemen  every  way  competent,  who 
have  used  the  limited  resources  at  their  disposal  so  wisely  that  the 
result  is  an  excellent  working  library.  It  might  be  advantageously 
enlarged  and  it  may  be  hoped  that  the  Missouri  synod,  now  grown 
to  be  one  of  the  most  prosperous  ecclesiastical  societies  in  the  coun- 
try, will  increase  the  library  revenues  of  a  college  which  is  such  a 
healthful  social  influence  and  which  has  done  and  is  yet  doing  so 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  347 

much  for  the  advancement  of  sound  learning  and  of  a  sober  and  ra- 
tional piety.  Through  the  kindness  of  Professor  Dieterich,  a 
former  member  of  its  faculty,  but  now  United  States  consul  at 
Bremen,  the  college  is  the  fortunate  possessor  of  a  copy  of  the  splen- 
did edition  of  Tischendorf  s  "Codex  Sinaiticus,"  published  at  the 
cost  of  Czar  Alexander  II  of  Russia.  The  manuscript,  which  con- 
tains the  oldest  and  best  text  of  the  Greek  Bible,  was  given  to  the 
convent  probably  by  the  Emperor  Justinian  about  the  middle  of  the 
sixth  century  and  remained  there  for  thirteen  hundred  years.  The 
copy  owned  by  the  college  is  unbound.  Some  lover  of  beautiful 
books  who  also  has  money  to  spare  could  hardly  put  a  little  of  it  to 
better  use  than  by  giving  to  this  almost  unique  work  a  binding  that 
would  be  in  harmony  with  its  intrinsic  worth. 


348  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 


PRIVATE  LIBRARIES  OF  FORT  WAYNE. 


BY    JOHN    H.    JACOBS. 


I  desire  to  express  my  thanks  to  the  friends  whose  kind  offices 
I  have  profited  by  in  the  preparation  of  the  following  sketches  and 
notes,  especially  to  F.  B.  Shoaff,  Esq.,  who  examined  for  me  the 
records  of  the  county  commissioners,  and  to  Miss  Margaret  M. 
Colerick,  librarian  of  the  Fort  Wayne  Public  Library,  and  her 
assistants.  Miss  Colerick  has  furnished  nearly  all  the  statistical 
and  other  matter  touching  the  working  of  the  public  library.  I  am 
also  under  many  obligations  to  the  owners  of  the  private  libraries 
for  their  kindness  in  showing  me  their  literary  treasures.  There 
are  other  libraries  in  Fort  Wayne  which,  not  from  any  fault  of 
their  owners,  it  has  been  impracticable  for  me  to  visit.  Some  of 
these  are  large.  The  high-school  library  numbers  about  four  thou- 
sand volumes,  carefully  selected  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  school; 
it  is  now  being  transferred  to  the  new  building.  Dr.  W.  H.  Myers 
has,  besides  his  professional  library,  an  extensive  collection  of  liter- 
ary and  scientific  works  of  unusual  merit.  There  are  also  many 
valuable  smaller  collections  of  books  and  engravings  which  add 
much  to  the  literary  and  artistic  treasures  of  our  city. 


Of  the  library  of  the  late  Hon.  F.  P.  Randall,  but  few  books  re- 
main; these,  however,  are  very  interesting.     A  Latin  Bible,  written 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  349 

on  parchment,  dates  from  the  twelfth  century.     The  letters  at  the 
beginning  of  each  chapter  are  brightly  colored,  and  the  borders  are 
ornamented  by  foliage.     It  is  a  splendid  specimen  of  mediaeval  chi- 
rography.     In  size,  it  is  a  thick  small  quarto,  well  bound  in  parch- 
ment.   A  Psalter,  bound  up  with  a  collection  of  prayers  and  the  lit- 
any of  the  saints,  all  written  in  Latin  on  vellum,  dates  from  1321. 
Many  of  the  capital  letters  are  rubricated.     An  Old  Testament  in 
Latin,  written  on  vellum  in  14 10.     The  capitals  and  many  smaller 
letters  are  rubricated.     To  each  book  is  annexed  a  summary  of  its 
contents,  and  at  the  end  of  the  whole  work  the  scribe  notes,  in  bright 
red  letters,  the  completeness  of  his  task.     It  is  a  thick  small  folio, 
bound  in  heavy  leather-covered  boards.     The  leather  is  much  worn, 
but  the  manuscript  is  in  perfect  condition,  apparently  as  clear  and 
bright  as  when  it  left  the  hand  of  the  patient  scribe  nearly  five  hun- 
dred years  ago.    A  Latin  Bible  in  small  quarto.     At  the  close  is  im- 
printed MCCCCL.     If  this  date  be  correct,  the  Bible  is  one  of  the 
very  first  printed.   "The  Holy  Bible,"  in  English,  "Printed  for  Chris- 
topher Barker  at  London,  1599."    This  edition  is  the  one  known  as 
the  Genevan  Bible,  sometimes  as  "The  Breeches  Bible,"  because  of 
the   translation   of   Genesis,    3  :y,    "and   they   made    for   themselves 
breeches."     The  New  Testament  in  twelve  languages  on  each  page, 
viz :    Syriac,  Hebrew,  Greek,  Italian,  Spanish,  French,  English,  Dan- 
ish, Polish,  German  and  Bohemian.    In  two  volumes,  large  folio ;  E. 
Hutteri,   1599.     The  letters  of  Aeneas  Silvius,  in  Latin,  a  folio  of 
1460.     A  folio  edition,  in  one  volume,  of  Thomas  Aquinas,  printed 
for  Octavianus  Scotus  by  Boneto  Locatello,   1494.     Epistle  of  St. 
Jerome,  in  Latin,  printed  in  1497.     "Lives  of  the  Fathers,"  in  Latin, 
with  a  preface  by  "Dr.  Martin  Luther,"  printed  at  Wittenberg  in 
1544.     It  is  a  small  but  thick  i2mo  volume,  well  printed  and  bound, 
and  easily  legible  even  for  old  eyes.     An  Enclycopedia  of  Scholastic 
Theology,  printed  at  Ruettingen  in  1482.     A  description,  in  Latin, 
of  Ancient  Temples,  Statuary  and  Ruins,  with  illustrations  on  each 
page,  printed  at  Rome,  1540.     A  very  large  folio  volume  of  which 
the  title  page  has  been  lost,  printed  for  J.  Nut,  London,  1710.    It  is 
a  collection  of  treatises  on  the  subjects  which,  it  was  thought,  an  Eng- 
lish country  gentleman  of  that  time  should  be  well  informed  about. 
It  begins  with  grammar  and  ends  with  the  laws  relating  to  forests, 


350  THE   MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

taking  by  the  way,  logic,  artithmetic,  algebra,  geometry,  natural  phi- 
losophy, the  Cartesian  philosophy,  astrology,  horsemanship,  hawk- 
ing, fowling,  hunting,  heraldry,  agriculture  and  various  other  sub- 
jects. All  the  dissertations  are  extensive  and  those  on  horsemanship 
and  sportsmanship  in  all  departments  are  very  elaborately  illustrated 
by  many  excellent  full-page  engravings.  These  two  subjects  are 
treated  in  great  detail,  and  give  a  very  lively  view  of  country  sports 
in  England  two  hundred  years  ago.  In  the  book  also  is  the  very  fine 
book  plate  of  Augustus  Schultzius,  Magdeburg.  Le  Brun's  Travels 
in  The  Levant,  published  in  Paris  in  1700,  two  very  large  folios,  il- 
lustrated by  two  hundred  full-page  engravings  and  several  large  pan- 
oramic views  of  cities.  That  of  Constantinople  is  three  feet  or  more 
long.  The  book  plate  is  "Ex  Bibliotheca  Scobolewiskiana."  On  the 
outside  of  the  cover  is  stamped  in  gold  a  coronet.  In  this  interesting 
collection,  also,  are  autograph  letters  in  excellent  condition  from 
Winfield  Scott,  Daniel  Webster,  Henry  Clay,  De  Witt  Clinton  and 
others  in  reply  to  an  invitation  to  be  present  at  the  celebration  held 
in  Fort  Wayne  in  1833  in  honor  of  the  completion  to  that  point  of 
the  Wabash  and  Erie  Canal.  In  some  of  these  letters,  most  of  which 
are  quite  elaborate,  the  writers  set  forth  their  views  on  "Internal 
Improvements"  in  general.  Here,  too,  in  prime  order,  is  the  original 
manuscript  of  the  act  to  incorporate  the  city  of  Fort  Wayne  in  1839. 
In  a  volume  without  name  or  date — on  the  plan  of  a  scrap-book — 
are  many  seals  and  coats  of  arms  in  red  wax,  of  German  dignitaries, 
with  the  name  of  the  owner  in  German  script,  written  in  the  margin. 
Other  features  of  interest  must  be  omitted. 


The  private  library  of  Rev.  S.  and  Mrs.  Wagenhals  comprises 
over  forty-two  hundred  volumes.  More  than  one-half  of  these  per- 
tain to  the  several  branches  of  theology — exegetical,  historical,  sys- 
tematic and  practical,  in  English,  German  and  the  ancient  languages. 

The  sections  of  profane  history,  biography  and  travel  embrace 
the  standard  authors,  with  many  recent  monographs.  Literature 
and  fiction  are  represented  by  sets  of  the  great  essayists  and  novelists, 
while  the  collection  of  current  books  is  unusually  full. 

The  philosophical  section  covers  the  entire  field,  the  critical  phi- 
losophy of  Kant  being  most  fully  represented  in  the  standard  edi- 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  351 

tions  of  the  master,  the  encyclopedic  lexicons  and  the  best  of  the 
monographs  published  in  Germany  and  England  since  the  Kantian 
centenary  in  1881.  There  is  a  good  working  section  on  the  several 
departments  of  sociology. 

Rev.  Wagenhals  has  always  taken  a  deep  interest  in  the  progress 
of  the  medical  sciences,  and  continues  to  add  some  of  the  best  recent 
publications  to  a  stock  purchased  at  intervals  and  containing  enough 
obsolete  works  to  exhibit  the  striking  developments  in  this  science 
within  the  last  half  century.  Works  on  bacteriology  and  microscopy, 
with  a  good  instrument  and  lenses,  indicate  an  interest  outside  the 
domain  of  professional  studies. 

Here  are  some  rare  books,  both  theological  and  secular,  the  most 
noteworthy  being  a  well  preserved  copy  of  the  Enchiridion  Militis 
Christiani  of  Erasmus,  printed  in  1522;  and  a  copy  in  folio  of  Plu- 
tarchs'  Lives,  reprinted  in  1631  from  the  folio  of  Sir  Thomas 
North's  translation  of  the  French  of  James  Amiot,  and  published  in 
1579.  It  is  a  rich  mine  of  the  stately  English  of  that  remarkable 
epoch. 

Although  not  strictly  a  part  of  a  library,  we  may  notice  a  large 
collection  of  prints  and  photographs  pertaining  to  art  in  the  classical 
periods  of  Egypt,  Greece  and  Rome.  There  are  a  number  of  the 
publications  of  the  Arundel  Society  and  a  complete  set  of  the  Boisser- 
ische  Sammlung  of  portraits  by  the  Dutch  masters,  of  which  there 
are  but  a  few  unbroken  sets  in  existence. 


Miss  Margaret  Hamilton's  library,  which  comprises  about  two 
thousand  volumes,  is  a  good  working  library  on  those  subjects  which 
have  at  various  times  engaged  the  attention  of  the  owner.  The  sec- 
tion of  Italian  literature  and  history  includes  many  books  of  biog- 
raphy and  description  in  Italian  and  English ;  a  very  interesting  and 
instructive  part  of  these  are  written  by  English  ladies  long  resident 
in  Italy  who  have  learned  to  know  and  appreciate  the  people  and  to 
esteem  them  highly.  There  is  a  full  set  of  the  works  of  Professor 
Villari,  a  voluminous  writer  on  some  of  the  most  interesting  charac- 
ters and  events  of  his  country.  The  great  history  of  Rome  during 
the  Middle  Ages,  by  F.  Gregorovius,  to  which  the  learned  author 
devoted  the  labor  of  a  lifetime,  is  not  a  history  of  the  government  of 


352  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

the  empire,  but  of  the  city  in  its  relations  with  the  empire,  the  papacy 
and  the  exterior  world.  Competent  critics  value  the  work  very  high- 
ly. Professor  Adams  says  of  it,  "Whether  considered  as  an  histor- 
ical authority  or  as  a  work  of  literary  art,  it  is  one  of  the  most  val- 
uable productions  of  modern  German  scholarship."  It  embraces  the 
period  from  the  fifth  to  the  sixteenth  century  and  ends  with  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  sack  of  Rome  by  the  imperialist  troops  under  the  Prince  of 
Orange;  at  the  hands  of  these  troops,  the  city  suffered  for  nine 
months  more  than  it  had  done  from  the  Goths  and  Vandals  centuries 
before. 

Sismondi's  History  of  the  Italian  Republic,  in  sixteen  volumes, 
tells  the  story  of  the  rise,  progress  and  fall  of  Italian  freedom  from 
the  fifth  to  the  eighteenth  century.  It  is  one  of  the  great  histories  of 
modern  times.  Sismondi  was  distinguished  for  industry  and  con- 
scientious accuracy.  In  the  prosecution  of  his  work,  he  visited  every 
place  in  Italy  that  had  been  the  scene  of  any  great  historical  event. 
He  was  remarkably  free  from  prejudice  and  self-conceit.  "On  re- 
ligious questions,  his  feelings  were  especially  intense.  Once  having 
heard  in  an  English  church  a  sermon  on  eternal  punishment,  he 
vowed  never  again  to  enter  another  church  holding  the  same  creed, 
and  never  to  contribute  to  spread  what  the  English  call  their  Refor- 
mation, for,  by  its  side,  Romanism  is  a  religion  of  mercy  and  peace." 

Another  section  of  the  library  contains  many  of  the  most  valuable 
books  relative  to  the  history  and  literature  of  England  in  the  seven- 
teenth and  eighteenth  centuries,  the  diaries  of  Evelyn  and  Pepys,  the 
journals  of  Dean  Swift,  Walpole's  correspondence,  the  letters  of  the 
poet  Gray  in  which  he  made  known  to  the  English  world  the  beau- 
ties of  the  "Lake  Region,"  of  which  beauties  he  is  said  to  have  been 
the  discoverer.  Miss  Burney's  and  Mrs.  Delaney's  journals  and  cor- 
respondence, which  give  such  delightful  views  of  the  private  life  of 
their  time.  A  fine  edition  of  Boswell's  Johnson,  said,  no  doubt  cor- 
rectly, to  be  the  best  biography  ever  written ;  the  works,  too,  of  Ol- 
iver Goldsmith,  that  never  grow  old  or  dull.  All  these  give  but  an 
imperfect  representation  of  the  wit  and  wisdom  gathered  on  these 
book  shelves.  Works  of  art,  too,  have  a  by  no  means  inconspicuous 
place  in  this  collection.  Here  is  a  fine  set  of  Mrs.  Jameson,  whose 
fine  fancy  and  delicate  perceptions  of  the  beautiful  and  real  poetic  en- 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  353 

thusiasm  make  her  words  such  a  source  of  delight  and  profit.  Rus- 
kin,  doubtless  the  most  original  and  eloquent  of  all  writers  on  art, 
was  also  both  in  spirit  and  purpose  revolutionary  and  so  aroused 
among  the  more  conservative  artists  and  critics  a  strong  opposition 
leading  to  very  painful  controversies.  But  the  splendor  of  Ruskin's 
style  gave  hinrat  once  a  place  in  literature,  and,  in  spite  of  all  oppo- 
sition, he  has  had  a  very  great  influence  on  the  course  and  character 
of  subsequent  art.  Ruskin's  most  admirable  and  most  influential 
quality,  however,  is  his  uncompromising  love  of  truth  and  undis- 
guised hatred  of  all  shams  and  hypocrisies  in  every  department  of 
life  as  well  as  in  art.  As  a  stylist,  a  word  painter  and  a  moralist, 
John  Ruskin  can  not  fail  to  remain  for  centuries  an  English  classic. 
Months  instead  of  hours  might  be  profitably  spent  in  browsing 
in  this  pleasant  land  of  literature,  but  I  am  admonished  to  forbear. 


The  library  of  Montgomery  Hamilton,  Esq.,  contains  about  one 
thousand  volumes.  It  is  mainly  a  reference  library.  Besides  dic- 
tionaries and  encyclopedias,  it  contains  many  bound  volumes  of  mag- 
azines ;  the  Edinburgh  and  London  Quarterly  Reviews,  the  Saturday 
Review,  and  a  set  of  "Punch"  complete  from  its  beginning  in  1841 
to  1870.  There  are  no  "incunabula"  nor  any  books  technically  called 
rare.  There  are  several  illustrated  works  that  are  not  common  in 
any  sense.  The  Bible  translated  into  French  by  M.  de  Sacy,  pro- 
fusely illustrated  by  steel  engravings  very  realistic  and  curious.  The 
account,  published  by  the  United  States,  of  Commodore  Perry's  ex- 
pedition to  Japan  in  1852 — so  fruitful  of  results  beyond  anticipa- 
tion— is  lavishly  illustrated  by  wood  cuts  and  full-page  lithographs. 
The  steel  engravings  which  illustrate  the  two  volumes  of  Bartlett's 
American  Scenery,  1840,  of  which  the  descriptive  part  was  written 
by  N.  P.  Willis,  are  very  early  impressions.  They  are  very  clearly 
defined  and  have  all  the  softness  and  delicacy  which  are  characteris- 
tic of  the  best  engravings  of  that  sort.  A  German  copper-plate  re- 
production of  Hogarth's  works  in  large  folio  is  considered  by  con- 
noisseurs to  be  very  fine  work.  There  are  also  many  books  on  the- 
ology and  ethnology,  subjects  in  which  the  owner  has  taken  much 
interest.  In  very  good  order  are  the  volumes  of  one  of  Harper  & 
Brother's   earliest   republications,    "The  Boys   and   Girls'   Library," 

23 


354  THE   MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

originally  published  in  London  by  John  Murray.  They  were  pur- 
chased many  years  ago  by  the  late  Hon.  Allen  Hamilton  for  the  use 
of  his  children. 


The  library  of  the  late  Hon.  Andrew  H.  Hamilton,'  still  in  the 
possession  of  his  family,  consists  of,  approximately,  six  thousand 
volumes  and  evidences  the  good  taste  and  sound  judgment  of  its  col- 
lector. Mr.  Hamilton  was  a  diligent  student  of  folklore  and  col- 
lected above  six  hundred  volumes  on  that  subject  and  a  considerable 
number  which  deal  with  it  incidentally.  These  volumes  include  prac- 
tically all  the  publications  of  the  English  Folklore  Society, — of  which 
Mr.  Hamilton  was  a  member, — many  stories  and  legends  of  Ireland, 
including  those  collected  by  Croker,  Samuel  Lover  and  others.  Dal- 
yell's  "Darker  Superstitions  of  Highlands  of  Scotland" ;  Campbell's 
"Witchcraft  and  Second  Sight  in  The  Highlands"  and  the  same  au-' 
thor's  "Superstitions  of  the  Scotch  Highlands ;"  "St  Patrick's  Purg- 
atory," by  Thomas  Wright,  and  an  interesting  essay  by  a  most  ac- 
complished antiquarian  on  the  legends  of  purgatory,  hell  and  para- 
dise current  during  the  Middle  Ages ;  "The  Superstitions  of  Witch- 
craft," by  Howard  Williams;  Upham's  "History  of  Witchcraft  in 
Salem  Village."  Although  the  delusion  of  witchcraft  was  sufficiently 
well  known  to  the  ancient  world,  yet  in  its  full  development  and 
frightful  results  it  was  modern  rather  than  ancient  or  mediaeval;  it 
was  Christian  rather  than  pagan,  Protestant  and  Puritan  as  well  as 
Catholic.  Mr.  Upham's  book  has  been  long  out  of  print,  and  is  not 
often  met  with.  It  can  not  be  read  without  a  feeling  of  painful  hu- 
miliation that  the  civilized,  the  Christian  world,  was  once  dominated 
by  a  delusion  which,  it  has  been  estimated,  caused  nine  millions  of 
people  to  be  burned  to  death  for  a  crime  that  had  never  been  commit- 
ted. The  foregoing  titles  just  touch  the  fringe  of  this  large  collec- 
tion of  popular  legends  and  superstitions  in  which  are  represented 
nearly  every  nation  and  tribe. 

Of  books  notable  for  their  antiquity  comes  first  the  "Mis- 
sale  Lincolniensis,"  with  the  offices  of  St.  Hugh  of  Lincoln,  a  manu- 
script on  vellum  of  the  year  1350.  The  capital  letters  at  the  begin- 
ning of  each  chapter  and  many  of  the  smaller  ones  are  rubricated. 
A  portion  of  the  service  is  set  to  music.     Prefixed  to  the  missal  is  a 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  355 

calendar,  the  lines  printed  alternately  in  red  and  black.  The  volume 
is  about  fourteen  inches  long,  nine  inches  wide  and  three  inches 
thick;  its  heavy  board  sides  are  covered  with  stout  leather,  almost 
black,  originally  tooled  in  handsome  designs  now  become  dim;  at 
each  corner  and  at  the  center  of  each  cover  is  a  heavy  metallic  boss. 
The  book  has  been  well  cared  for  and,  apart  from  the  damage  done 
to  the  binding  by  natural  gas,  seems  likely  to  endure  another  five 
hundred  and  fifty-five  years, 

"Horae  Beatae  Mariae  Virginis  cum  Calendario,"  a  manuscript 
on  vellum  in  Gothic  letters  with  illuminated  initial  letters  and  bor- 
ders of  an  arabesque  design  intermingled  with  flowers  and  foliage 
brilliant  in  color  and  heightened  with  gold.  There  are  thirteen  large 
and  fourteen  small  miniatures  illustrative  of  the  seasons,  events  of 
the  life  of  Christ,  the  Evangelists  and  later  saints.  The  text  is  in 
Latin,  with  some  prayers  in  French  added  by  an  apparently  later 
hand.  It  is  a  i2mo,  bound  in  old  olive  morocco,  elaborately  orna- 
mented by  tooling  and  by  gold  coloring  of  the  time  of  Henry  III  of 
France.  The  manuscript  probably  is  of  an  earlier  date.  A  copy  of  a 
similar  work  is  priced  in  the  late  catalogue  of  a  London  bookseller  at 
thirty-five  pounds. 

Books  remarkable  for  beauty  of  typography  are :  A  "Codex," 
printed  in  red  and  black  and  bound  in  the  original  stamped  calf,  Ven- 
ice, i486;  St.  Francis  de  Sales'  "Introduction  to  a  Devout  Life,"  in 
French,  Paris,  1651;  The  Holy  Bible,  with  annotations,  printed  at 
Birmingham,  17 19,  by  John  Barkerville.  It  is  a  folio*  in  the  original 
calf  binding,  and  is  a  fine  specimen  of  that  great  printer's  work. 
Barkerville  was  an  artist  in  his  profession  and  his  work  is  held  in 
high  esteem. 

There  are  two  unusually  perfect  copies  of  the  "Genevan"  or 
"Breeches  Bible,"  in  quarto,  printed  in  London  by  Robert  Barker; 
one  in  Old  English  letters,  with  the  book  of  Common  Prayer,  dated 
1 6 10;  the  other,  dated  1634,  contains  Sternhold  and  Hopkins'  metri- 
cal version  of  the  Psalms,  with  "Apt  notes  to  sing  them  withal." 

Of  the  many  illustrated  works,  those  that  will  attract  most  at- 
tention are :  "Religious  Ceremonies  and  Customs  of  all  Nations." 
It  is  a  very  large  folio,  text  in  French,  published  at  Amsterdam, 
1732.     Hoet,  Houbraken  and  Picart's  engravings  to  illustrate  the 


356  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER   BASIN. 

principal  events  recorded  in  the  Bible,  also  in  large  folio,  published 
at  La  Haye,  1728.  The  engavings  in  the  three  preceding  works 
are  of  a  quality  and  size  not  often  met  with,  and  to  be  appreciated 
must  be  seen.  To  any  one  fond  of  reading  about  adventures  and 
dangers  by  flood  and  field  in  distant  lands  and  among  strange  peo- 
ple and  in  circumstances  far  different  from  those  of  our  own  day, 
Pinkerton's  Collections  of  Voyages  is  an  inexhaustible  treasury.  It 
is  in  sixteen  thick  quarto  volumes,  published  1808- 18 13. 

Few  books  have  been  so  popular  as  Lord  Anson's  "Voyage 
Around  the  World"  in  the  years  1740- 1744.  It  was  translated  into 
every  civilized  language,  and  is  still,  after  the  lapse  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  years,  a  very  readable  and  instructive  book.  An  incident  re- 
corded in  it  suggested  that  most  pathetic  poem  "The  Castaway," 
written  by  Cowper  just  before  his  reason  passed  away  never  fully 
to  return 

A  few  old  novels  may  be  noted  as  curiously  illustrative  of  the 
light  literature  of  the  seventeenth  century.  "The  Rogue,  or  Guz- 
man d'Alfranche,"  from  the  Spanish  of  Mater  Aleman,  London, 
1623,  in  small  folio,  is  a  tale  of  very  low  life  indeed.  One  can  hardly 
find  in  any  other  books  characters  so  entirely  bad.  It  was,  however, 
so  popular  that  it  ran  through  twenty-five  editions  in  Spanish,  and 
was  translated,  Roscoe  says,  into  every  European  language.  Le 
Sage  translated  it  into  French,  and  some  critics  think  he  found  in  it 
a  model  for  Gil  Bias. 

"Clelie,"  translated  from  the  French  of  Mile.  Scudery  by  John 
Davies,  London,  1678,  in  folio,  is  prolix  and  tiresome  beyond  expres- 
sion, yet  it  once  enjoyed  considerable  reputation.  The  action  of  the 
romance  is  placed  in  the  early  age  of  Roman  history  and  the  heroine 
is  that  Clelia  who  escaped  from  the  power  of  Porsenna  by  swimming 
across  the  Tiber.  There  is,  however,  not  much  about  Roman  life  in 
the  book,  but  in  the  guise  of  that  distant  age  there  is  a  g*ood  deal  told 
concerning  the  manners  and  characters  of  the  time  of  Mile.  Scudery. 
There  are  three  hundred  and  seventy  characters  in  the  novel,  and 
there  seems  little  doubt  that  nearly  all  were  portraits  readily  recog- 
nizable by  contemporaries.  There  is  a  key  to  these  characters  in  the 
National  Library  in  Paris.  Some  French  writers  still  deem  the 
book  worthy  of  study  as  "dealing  with  all  the  questions  concerning 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  357 

the  condition  of  women  in  the  world,  the  rank  allotted  them  by  mod- 
ern civilization  and  the  preservation  of  that  rank  entailed  on  them." 
Voltaire  writes,  "Clelie  gives  us  portraits  of  all  the  people  who  made 
a  noise  in  the  world  at  the  date  its  author  lived."  "The  Countess  of 
Pembroke's  Arcadia,"  by  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  London,  1674,  is  said 
to  show  marks  of  real  genius.  It,  however,  is  hardly  less  wearisome 
than  the  preceding  and  abounds  in  the  affectations  so  prevalent  in 
the  author's  time.  Sidney's  noble  life  and  heroic  death  probably  en- 
hanced the  popularity  of  his  book.  Hone's  "Every  Day  Book," 
"Year  Book"  and  "Table  Book"  are  most  handsomely  bound  in  full 
calf.  Southey's  "Common  Place  Book"  is  bound  in  a  style  appropri- 
ate to  that  thesaurus  of  out-of-the-way  learning.  The  first  edition 
of  Cruikshank's  "Comic  Almanack"  might  be  profitably  compared 
with  the  colored  illustrations  of  a  Sunday  newspaper  of  today. 

Of  the  many  works  of  standard  authors  and  valuable  reference 
books,  it  is  not  practicable  to  speak  in  detail.     Allusion  may  be  made 
to  Richardson's  Dictionary,  in  two  large  quarto  Volumes.     It  is  es- 
pecially valuable  for  its  etymology,  although  now  to  some  extent 
superseded.     "It  exhibits  the  biography  of  each  word,  its  birth,  par- 
entage and  education,  the  company  it  has  kept  and  the  connections  it 
has  formed,  by  a  rich  series  of  quotations,  all  in  chronological  order." 
Bishop  Trench  recommends  it  in  his  "Study  of  Words."     It  has  a 
quality  not  common  to  dictionaries  of  being  really  a  readable  book. 
Murray's  "New  English  Dictionary,"  so  far  as  completed,  of  course 
supersedes  everything  else,  but  it  is  so  costly  as  to  be  beyond  the 
reach  of  most  students,  and  generations  are  likely  to  pass  away  be- 
fore its  completion.     Bayle's  "Historical  and  Critical  Dictionary," 
with  additions  by  Birch  Lockman  and  others,  in  ten  folio  volumes,  is 
certainly  up  to  the  date  of  its  publication  the  most  valuable  com- 
pend  in  the  English  language.     It  is  especially  valuable  in  biogra- 
phies, and  it  was  for  this  that  Dr.  Johnson  liked  it  best.     Gibbon  eu- 
logized it  as  he  did  very  few  books.     Dibdin  calls  it  a  cornucopia  of 
flowers,  bright,  blooming  and  unfading.     Bayle  was  one  of  the  most 
independent  thinkers  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  stands  at  the 
head  of  modern  skeptics  and  logicians.     His  dictionary  everywhere 
gives  evidence  of  the  high  intelligence,  honest  principle  and  well- 
nigh  universal  knowledge  of  its  author.     It  has  exercised  an  im- 


358  THE    MAUMEE   RIVER   BASIN. 

mense  influence  over  literature  and  philosophy,  and  may  be  historically 
regarded  as  the  protest  of  the  enlightened  human  intellect  against 
the  irrational  dogmatisms  of  the  church.  Rees'  "New  Encyclope- 
dia/' 1 803- 1 8 19,  in  forty-five  quarto  volumes,  represents  with  great 
fulness  and  detail  the  state  of  human  knowledge  in  the  beginning  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  Its  biographical  articles  are  very  numerous 
and  of  lasting  value.  They  were  mostly  written  by  Dr.  Rees  himself, 
who  was  an  exceedingly  painstaking  and  accurate  writer.  Rees  was 
a  Welsh  dissenting  clergyman,  distinguished  no  less  for  his  piety  and 
devotion  to  his  clerical  duties  than  for  his  learning.  To  a  friend 
who  had  congratulated  him  on  the  completion  of  his  great  work,  he 
replied,  "I  thank  you ;  but  I  am  still  more  thankful  that  I  have  been 
able  to  publish  four  volumes  of  my  sermons."  To  all  students  of 
English  literature  "Literary  Anecdotes  of  Eighteenth  Century,"  in 
nine  volumes,  8vo,  and  "Illustrations  of  Literary  History  of  Eight- 
eenth Century,"  in  eight  volumes,  8vo,  are  of  the  highest  value.  The 
more  one  reads  of  them,  the  keener  will  be  his  appetite.  Dibdin  says 
they  are  the  most  instructive  books  of  literary  anecdote  and  history 
in  the  world.  "In  these  books,  Mr.  Nichols  poured  forth  such  a 
flood  of  literary  and  biographical  anecdote  as  is  not  to  be  equalled 
for  variety  and  interest  by  any  other  work  in  the  English  language." 
The  foregoing  notes  can  give  only  a  most  inadequate  idea  of  this 
notable  library,  worthy  the  attention  of  an  accomplished  bibli- 
ographer. 


The  library  at  the  Hanna  homestead  is  composed  of  the  books 
collected  by  Hon.  F.  J.  Hayden,  together  with  those  collected  by  Mr. 
Hugh  T.  Hanna.  It  numbers  probably  two  thousand  volumes; 
amongst  these  are  no  incunabula  nor  curios,  but  many  standard  works 
in  the  best  editions  and  unusually  well  bound  in  half  calf  or  morocco. 
Full  sets  in  such  bindings  of  the  works  of  Washington  Irving,  J. 
Fenimore  Cooper,  Prescott,  Parkman,  Webster,  together  with  his 
life  by  George  T.  Curtiss,  show  that  American  literature  has  not 
been  overlooked.  The  copy  of  Cooper's  novels  contains  all  the  illus- 
trations by  F.  O.  C.  Darley;  these  books  have  been  translated  into 
various  languages  and  have  delighted  thousands  of  readers.  It  has 
been  charged  that  the  Indian  character  as  portrayed  by  Cooper  is  a 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  359 

gross  exaggeration,  or  rather  pure  fiction.  There  is,  however,  reason 
to  believe  otherwise.  Many  writers  who  had  personal  knowledge  of 
the  Indians  before  intercourse  with  whites  had  degraded  them,  speak 
highly  of  their  virtues  and  thoughtfulness.  Heckewelder,  the  Mora- 
vian missionary,  who  lived  long  among  them,  on  this  point  is  very 
emphatic,  and  gives  in  support  instances  of  which  he  had  personal 
experience.  The  brilliant  writings  of  Prescott  and  Parkman  deserve 
to  be  kept  in  memory,  not  only  because  of  their  intrinsic  merits,  but 
because  of  the  very  great  difficulties  amidst  which  they  were  begun 
and  carried  on  to  completion ;  both  writers  were  almost  blind  even  be- 
fore their  literary  careers  had  really  begun,  and  their  works  are  a 
worthy  monument  to  their  resolution  and  patience,  as  well  as  to  their 
intellectual  skill.  Webster's  Orations  it  seems  unlikely  will  ever 
cease  to  be  regarded  as  the  masterpieces  of  American  oratory;  in 
style,  in  substance  and  in  delivery  they  have  not  been  approached. 
Webster  was  of  grave  and  severe  aspect ;  Carlyle  saw  in  him  more  of 
the  silent  Bersekir-rage  than  in  any  other,  but  he  was  also  of  deep 
sensibilities.  In  London  some  gentlemen  took  him  to  Westminster 
Abbey ;  he  walked  in,  looked  around,  and  burst  into  tears. 

An  American  book  of  real  worth,  but  long  out  of  print,  is  "The 
Literature  and  Literary  Men  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,"  by 
Abraham  Mills.  The  scope  of  the  book  is  indicated  by  the  title;  the 
biographical  sketches  are  sufficiently  full,  and  the  critical  judgments 
sound.  A  full  and  well-bound  set  of  the  "Modern  British  Essayists" 
invites  an  examination  of  the  literary  prophecies  of  some  of  those 
able  scholars ;  such  an  examination  would  be  a  useful  lesson  in  the 
fallibility  of  human  judgment.  Hallam's  historical  works,  in  ten 
8vo  volumes,  although  in  respect  of  mediaeval  times  now  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  superseded,  are  otherwise  of  the  highest  value.  Hal- 
lam  was  industrious,  his  learning  was  extensive  and  profound,  and 
his  impartiality  and  truthfulness  such  as  very  few  historical  writers 
can  pretend  to.  Carlyle's  works  are  in  full  force,  the  "Frederick  the 
Great"  in  the  large-type  English  edition.  In  spite  of  all  that  has 
been  written  of  him,  Carlyle  remains  inexplicable ;  nevertheless  was 
he  one  of  the  greatest  moral  forces  of  the  time.  The  morning  after 
his  death,  the  London  Times  wrote  of  him,  "We  have  had  no  such 
individuality  since  Johnson.    Whether  men  agreed  or  not,  he  was  a 


360  THE   MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

touchstone  to  which  truth  and  falsehood  were  brought  to  be  tried.  A 
preacher  of  Doric  thought  always  in  his  pulpit  and  audible,  he  de- 
nounced wealth  without  sympathy,  equality  without  respect,  mobs 
without  leaders  and  life  without  an  aim." 

Dickens,  with  all  the  illustrations  by  Cruikshank,  Darley  and 
others,  and  Thackeray,  in  twenty-two  volumes,  with  the  author's 
own  illustrations,  together  with  Cooper,  noticed  above,  represent 
more  than  favorably  the  world  of  fiction.  The  "Encyclopedia  Met- 
ropolitana,"  completed  in  twenty-nine  volumes  in  1845,  was  planned 
by  Coleridge  in  18 18.  It  was  arranged  not  alphabetically  as  other 
such  works  are,  but  in  four  divisions :  First,  pure  sciences ;  second, 
mixed  and  applied  sciences;  third,  biography  and  history;  fourth, 
miscellaneous  and  lexicographic  articles.  The  contributors  were 
among  the  ablest  men  of  the  day  and  very  many  of  the  contributions 
have  been  published  separately.  Another  encyclopedia  from  the  li- 
brary of  the  late  Judge  Hanna  is  "The  New  American  Encyclopedia 
of  Universal  Knowledge,"  in  seven  volumes,  compiled  from  the  "En- 
cyclopedia Perthensis,"  and  published  by  John  Low,  New  York, 
1805.  This  antedates  the  "Encyclopedia  Americana,"  edited  by  Dr. 
Francis  Lieber,  published  in  1829.  A  work  valuable  now  only  for 
its  associations  is  An  Abridgement  of  Ainsworth's  Latin  and  English 
Dictionary.  It  is  a  thick  i2vo  volume,  published  in  London,  1758, 
and  used  by  the  father  of  Mr.  Hay  den  during  his  university  course 
at  Oxford.  Three  other  works  in  the  possession  of  which  the  owner 
must  feel  an  honest  pride  are  Chaucer's  "Canterbury  Tales"  and  Dry- 
den's  "Poems,"  both  bound  in  full  red  morocco;  on  the  cover  is 
stamped  the  seal  of  Victoria  College ;  presented  to  Mr.  F.  J.  Hayden 
as  a  prize  for  the  best  English  essay  of  the  year,  in  1864;  the  other 
is  a  comely  copy  of  Hazlitt's  edition  of  Shakespeare  in  five  volumes, 
full  calf,  as  a  prize  for  the  best  essay  on  the  benefits  to  be  derived 
from  the  study  of  metaphysical  philosophy.  Fine  editions  of  Froude, 
Grote  and  Gibbon  also  are  on  the  shelves.  Of  these  and  indeed  of 
most  other  modern  historians,  Gibbon  seems  likely  to  live  the  longest, 
both  because  of  his  accuracy  and  literary  skill.  In  nearly  a  century 
of  faultfinding  miscroscopic  German  criticism  very  few  errors  of  im- 
portance have  been  found.  Here  are  half  a  dozen  books  by  Hugh 
Miller,  which  for  the  most  part  have  not  lost  their  interest.     Es- 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  361 

pecially  are  two,  "First  Impressions  of  England  and  Its  People"  and 
"My  Schools  and  School  Masters,"  worthy  to  be  continually  re- 
printed, for  they  are  his  autobiography.  Hugh  Miller's  name  finds 
place  in  the  long  roll  of  worthies  who,  from  Joseph,  the  Hebrew  lad 
that  was  sold  into  slavery,  down,  with  the  scantiest  of  opportunities, 
have  by  making  good  use  of  what  they  had,  become  benefactors  to 
the  human  race  and  an  honor  to  it.  Of  the  many  profusely  illus- 
trated and  expensively  bound  books  may  be  noted:  "North  Amer- 
ican Forest  Trees,"  from  the  French  of  Michaux,  in  nine  volumes, 
decorated  full  calf  binding,  with  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  engrav- 
ings in  color;  Stanton's  edition  of  Shakespeare,  in  three  octavo 
volumes,  illustrated  by  Guilbert,  and  bound  in  one-half  red  morocco; 
"Portrait  Gallery  of  Eminent  Men  and  Women,"  with  biographical 
notices  by  E.  A.  Duyckink;  Moore's  edition  of  "Byron's  Poems,"  in 
one  volume  quarto,  full  brown  morocco,  with  a  profusion  of  steel 
plates ;  "Gems  of  English  Art,"  forty- four  steel  engravings  with  de- 
scriptive letterpress  by  S.  C.  Hall;  Gustave  Dore's  work  is  well  rep- 
resented by  his  illustrations  to  "Don  Quixote,"  in  one  volume  quarto, 
in  full  brown  morocco,  and  by  his  full-page  illustrations  to  Milton's 
"Paradise  Lost,"  in  folio,  sumptuously  bound  in  full  brown  morocco ; 
one  hundred  and  fifty  steel  engravings  of  Hogarth's  works  are  suit- 
ably preserved  in  one  volume  quarto,  full  black  morocco.  In  this 
edition  the  plates,  though  much  reduced  from  the  original,  are  so 
distinct  and  clear  that  one  may  not  only  look  at  them  but  read  them ; 
another  unusually  beautiful  book  is  Guizot's  "History  of  France,"  in 
four  large  i2mo  volumes,  with  hundreds  of  wood  engravings,  and 
bound  in  full  wine-colored  morocco.  In  this  work  Guizot  narrated, 
in  the  first  instance  to  his  grandchildren,  the  story  of  France  from 
the  earliest  times  to  the  convocation  of  the  states-general  in  1789; 
it  is,  however,  very  far  from  being  what  is  called  a  "child's  book." 
The  important  facts  and  great  personages  of  French  history  are  very 
carefully  studied  and  made  to  appear  what  they  really  are,  the  cen- 
ters of  all  subordinate  affairs.  Professor  Adams  says  it  is  not  only 
the  best  popular  history  of  France,  but  that  probably  no  other  coun- 
try has  a  history  so  well  adapted  to  the  needs  of  intelligent  young 
men  and  women;  "American  Ornithology,"  by  Alexander  Wilson 
and  Charles  J.  Bonaparte,  in  three  volumes,  abounds  in  illustrative 


362  THE    MAUMEE   RIVER    BASIN. 

prints;  Audubon's  "Birds  of  America,"  the  text  in  four  large 
volumes,  bound  in  half  red  calf;  the  "Atlas  of  Illustrations' '  is  ele- 
phant folio  in  size,  forty  inches  long  by  twenty-seven  wide,  the 
figures  all  life  size,  drawn  and  colored  from  nature.  (It  was  pub- 
lished by  subscription  by  Roe,  Lockwood  &  Company  in  New  York, 
i860,  and  it  is  believed  there  are  only  four  other  copies  in  this 
country.)  The  beauty  of  these  pictures  can  not  be  described,  but  it 
may  be  said  the  wild  turkey  of  this  atlas  is  the  real  wild  turkey  of 
the  woods,  any  hunter  would  swear  to  it.  Valuable  especially  for 
its  associations  is  "The  New  Testament,"  square  i2mo  size,  pub- 
lished in  1884  by  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Company,  Boston,  a  bequest 
from  Mr.  Hayden's  sister.  It  is  printed  in  double  columns  and  il- 
lustrated by  superior  wood  engravings  after  pictures  by  Fra 
Angelico,  Pietro  Perugino,  Francis  Francia  and  others,  of  events  in 
the  life  of  Christ  and  the  Apostles;  the  margins  are  ornamented  by 
vines  and  foliage  copied  from  ancient  manuscripts.  The  fine  lot  of 
agricultural  works  may  be  fairly  termed  the  owner's  professional 
library.  The  school  and  college  text  books  on  the  top  shelves,  dating 
back  forty  or  fifty  years,  are  not  much  used,  doubtless,  but  a  glance 
at  them  from  time  to  time  will  not  fail  to  recall  to  their  owner  the 
pleasant  days  of  youth  so  full  of  hope  and  joy.  "Not  spent  in  toys 
or  lust  or  wine,  but  search  of  deep  philosophy,  wit,  eloquence,  and 
poesy." 


The  library  of  Mrs.  Helen  F.  Fleming,  largely  formed  by  her 
husband,  the  late  William  Fleming,  is  very  characteristic.  "Scenes 
and  Legends  of  Ireland"  and  "Sketches  of  Irish  Characters,"  by  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  S.  C.  Hall,  in  three  volumes  8vo,  handsomely  printed  and 
illustrated  by  steel  engravings  and  appropriately  bound  in  green 
morocco,  are  a  pleasing  introduction,  accentuated  by  a  well-thumbed 
copy  of  Father  Prout's  "Reliques."  On  the  same  shelf  stand  the 
"Memories  of  Joseph  Holt,"  general  of  the  rebels  in  the  rising  of 
1798.  Joseph  Holt  was  an  extraordinary  character;  he  was  a 
farmer  in  county  Wicklow;  a  Protestant,  he  was  too  liberal  to  take 
any  part  against  his  Roman  Catholic  fellow  citizens,  but  kept  aloof 
from  politics.  This,  however,  was  in  that  time  and  place  sufficient 
to  prejudice  the  authorities.     So,  during  Holt's  absence  from  home, 


ALLEN   COUNTY,  INDIANA.  363 

the  government  agent  visited  his  place  and  burned  all  his  buildings 
and  destroyed  or  drove  off  all  his  moveable  property.  Enraged  by 
such  treatment,  Holt  joined  the  United  Irishmen  and  was  soon  at 
the  head  of  several  hundred  men.  He  developed  a  great  deal  of 
courage  and  skill  as  a  commander  and,  in  the  guerilla  war  which  he 
carried  on  and  for  which  his  knowledge  of  the  country  especially 
fitted  him,  he  was  more  than  a  match  for  the  government  troops. 
He  maintained  withal  such  a  high  character  that  he  was,  on  the 
failure  of  the  rebellion,  permitted  to  go  into  voluntary  exile;  a  free 
pardon,  however,  was  soon  granted  him  and  he  returned  to  Ireland, 
where  he  died  in  1826.  He  was  a  brother  to  William  Holt,  grand- 
father of  the  late  William  Fleming.  Close  by  is  a  set  of  the  New 
Series  of  Putnam's  Magazine,  once  a  great  favorite  with  maga- 
zine readers,  bound,  too,  as  was  most  fitting,  in  green  and  gold. 
There  is  quite  a  variety  of  magazines ;  the  Metropolitan  Magazine, 
a  Catholic  Family  Magazine,  eighteen  bound  volumes  of  The  Catholic 
World,  and  many  more  unbound,  together  with  some  volumes  of 
The  Dublin  Review,  Lingard's  "History  of  England,"  in  thirteen 
volumes,  bound  in  green  half  calf.  Mohler's  "Symbolism"  is  con- 
sidered, doubtless,  to  be  one  of  the  ablest  books  of  its  kind  published 
in  modern  times.  It  passed  through  five  editions  in  six  years  and 
drew  forth  many  criticisms  and  rejoinders.  It  is  still  highly  esteemed 
and  its  author  is  regarded  as  at  once  the  most  acute  and  philosophical 
controversialist  in  his  church. 

Mr.  Fleming's  taste  in  literature  was  as  catholic  as  his  religion, 
as  is  evidenced  by  the  presence  on  the  shelves  of  Carlyle's  Essays, 
Christopher  North's  "Noctes  Ambrosianae,"  all  the  works  of 
DTsraeli,  the  elder,  Gerald  Griffin's  books,  in  which  the  collector 
took  great  delight.  Books  which  seem  to  have  been  purchased  by 
Mr.  Fleming  as  far  back  as  1855-1856,  and  which  had  evidently 
been  much  read,  are  the  poems  of  Pope,  Dryden  and  Cowper,  and 
that  most  delightful  book,  "Salad  for  the  Social,"  by  Frederick 
Saunders. 

Since  Mr.  Fleming's  death  his  widow  has  made  some  additions 
to  the  library,  of  a  few  of  which  mention  may  be  made.  The  works 
of  F.  W.  Faber  and  especially  a  dainty  edition  of  his  hymns.  Some 
of  the  hymns  have  passed  into  the  collections  of  various  Protestant 


364  THE    MAUMEE    RIVER    BASIN. 

denominations.  "Pilgrims  of  the  Night,"  "The  Old  Laborer,"  "The 
Shore  of  Eternity,"  are  beautiful  and  no  less  solemn  poems.  One 
of  the  later  additions  to  the  library  is  Montalembert's  "Monks  of  the 
West;"  in  these  volumes  are  narrated  in  very  eloquent  language  the 
labors  of  the  monks  to  convert  to  Christianity  the  pagan  nations  of 
western  Europe  and  introduce  to  them  the  best  civilization  of  that 
time.  It  was  a  noble  theme,  a  story  of  self-denial,  of  self-devotion 
even  unto  death  for  the  good  of  others,  told,  too,  in  "words  that 
burn."  Two  volumes  interesting  because  of  their  flavor  of  antiquity 
— as  antiquity  goes  in  America — are  a  "Dictionary  of  Biography," 
by  R.  H.  Davenport,  first  American  edition,  Exeter,  New  Hampshire, 
1839,  with  many  outline  portraits.  "Letters  from  an  American 
Farmer  to  a  Friend  in  England,"  published  by  Matthew  Carey, 
Philadelphia,  1793,  are  especially  valuable  as  showing  how  greatly 
the  conditions  of  life  have  changed  in  a  century.  A  Prayer  Book 
in  German,  published  in  1804,  and  elegantly  bound,  is  highly  prized, 
apart  from  its  intrinsic  worth,  for  its  family  associations,  having 
been  a  present  to  Mrs.  Fleming's  grandmother  on  the  occasion  of  her 
marriage. 


Father  M.  E.  Lafontaine  furnishes  the  following  information 
touching  Bishop  Alerding's  library :  "It  contains  about  three  thou- 
sand volumes.  Among  the  most  important  works  are :  An  explana- 
tion of  the  Bible,  in  twenty-six  volumes;  a  collection  of  the  best 
works  on  dogmatic  theology ;  the  writings  of  the  early  Fathers ;  the 
decrees  of  the  Councils;  rare  or  curious  books;  a  book  of  sermons, 
printed  in  1478;  a  five-volume  Bible  in  German,  containing  the 
Catholic  version;  Luther's  version,  etc.,  printed  in  1711;  Letters  of 
St.  Jerome,  printed  in  1480;  a  Latin  Bible,  Nurnberg,  1679;  a  Ger- 
man     Bible,     with     colored      capital     letters,    printed     in     1470." 


The  number  of  books  in  the  library  of  Hon.  R.  S.  Taylor  may 
be  estimated  at  about  two  thousand.  The  variety  of  subjects  repre- 
sented is  indicative  of  the  manifold  activities  of  the  owner  and  his 
family.  In  sight,  at  least,  there  is  nothing  that  can  fairly  be  called 
trashy.  In  convenient  shelves  on  the  north  side  are  the  "Century 
Dictionary"  and  the  ninth  edition  of  the  "Encyclopedia  Brittannica," 


ALLEN    COUNTY,  INDIANA.  365 

to  which  has  been  added  the  new  volumes  dated  1902  and  Index  to 
the  whole,  in  all  thirty-five  large  quarto  volumes,  giving  as  far  as  it 
can  be  done  a  resume  of  the  present  state  of  human  knowledge. 
Above  and  on  either  side  of  them  is  a  very  fine  lot  of  books  in  ap- 
pearance no  less  than  in  substance.  A  copy  of  Burke's  works  is  near 
by, — a  fountain  at  which  all  students  of  political  science  and  elo- 
quence may  drink  great  draughts  of  wisdom.  Burke's  oratory  ulti- 
mately became  ineffective  in  parliament,  his  hearers  actually  grew 
tired  of  the  monotonous  splendors  of  his  speeches  and  he  at  last 
drifted  into  a  state  of  almost  political  isolation;  nevertheless,  he 
exercised  great  influence  on  state  affairs;  "Many  of  his  views  on 
politics  and  public  economy  were  anticipations  of  science,  as  many 
of  his  provisions  of  the  course  of  events  were  prophecies. "  He  was 
noble-minded,  pure  in  life  and  a  purist  in  politics.  Intellectually,  he 
was  most  richly  endowed;  with  great  imagination,  rare  powers  of 
observation  and  indefatigable  industry,  there  was  no  subj